Characterization of Arsenite Oxidizing Bacteria with respect to their Application in the Development of Arsenic Biosensor

Abstract

Characterization of arsenite oxidizing bacteria with respect to their application in the development of arsenic biosensor Arsenic (As) contamination in the groundwater and food chain is most concerning topic because more than 100 million people are facing problems due to lack of cost-effective arsenic detection system, especially in the Asian countries. The whole-cell based arsenic biosensors can be the best option for detection of the arsenic contamination by just using normal pH electrode.This type of biosensor provides ease to use for quantitative and qualitative analysis arsenic toxicity in the regional laboratories. Present research is focused on the pH change analysis after conversion of arsenite to arsenate by using arsenite oxidizing bacteria(AOB)strains AOS-1 and AOS-2. Optimization of pH change was done with the help of response surface methodology (RSM)by assuming four factors: temperature, time, arsenite concentration and percentage of culture inoculum.In this study,it is found that strain AOS-1 was having a better capacity to arsenite oxidation and gavemore output of pH change than strain AOS-2.The research also focused on detection of arsenite oxidase genes in the strains AOS-1 and AOS-2for construction of engineered arsenite oxidizingstrains to develop an arsenic biosensor.