Issues underlying use of biosensors to measure metal bioavailability
Section snippets
Metal bioavailability in the environment
Metal speciation and the resulting bioavailability rather than total metal concentration determines the overall physiological and toxic effects of a metal on biological systems (Bernhard et al., 1986; Hughes and Poole, 1989; Morrison et al., 1989; Roane et al., 1996). Total metal refers to all metal present in a given environment. In contrast, one can define external bioavailable metal as the soluble, ionic form of the metal. This is the metal that can interact with surrounding microbial cells
Measurement of bioavailable metal using whole-cell biosensors
The transport and fate of metals in soil is influenced by both biotic and abiotic factors. Soil microorganisms are responsible for fundamental ecological processes, including biogeochemical cycling of transition (heavy) metals. Improved understanding of microbial metal homeostasis and of metal resistance strategies should lead to new approaches to environmental decontamination. It should also be possible to increase the rates of restoration of contaminant-impacted soils and optimize methods
Uptake of transition metals by microorganisms
Recent findings indicate that there is (almost) no free transition metal in living cells (e.g., copper and zinc in E. coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Rae et al., 1999; Outten and O’Halloran, 2001). New findings from two of the best characterized model organisms, S. cerevislae and E. coli, and data from genome sequencing projects of numerous microorganisms indicate that metal transporters and metal homeostatic mechanisms are widespread. Metals are usually taken up by specific transporters and
Conclusions
Metal specificity and affinity of transport proteins determines rates of metal translocation and distribution. Therefore, the presence of cellular homeostatic mechanisms greatly influences the toxicity of the external bioavailable metal concentration.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by Grant 2 P42 ESO4940-11 from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIEHS, (to R.M.), in part by Grant CHE 0133237 from the National Science Foundation (to R.M.) and by Grant EEC9908280 from NSF (to C.R.).
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