SENSING SUPERFUND CHEMICALS WITH RECOMBINANT SYSTEMS

多氯联苯在自然界中对化学和生物分解过程的抵抗力使其在环境中具有持久性。目前用于监测多氯联苯等污染物的许多分析技术需要昂贵的设备和对环境样品进行大量的预处理。认识到传统分析技术中固有的困难，刺激了使用生物成分作为传感元件的新型传感系统的发展。在这方面，该项目的目标是开发其细分产品（例如，羟基化多氯联苯、氯儿茶酚等）在危险废物场中可以找到。所提出的生物传感系统是基于重组细菌的使用，该重组细菌将多氯联苯的分解代谢途径沿着报告基因的表达。此外，还将通过构建系统来开发基于哺乳动物和测试细胞的传感器，在所述系统中，报告蛋白的表达与感兴趣的物种与芳烃受体的结合偶联。我们提出的生物传感技术的潜在优势包括经济性，便携性和直接识别和量化土壤和地下水样品中发现的复杂混合物中的特定化合物的可能性。

The resistance of PCBs to chemical and biological breakdown processes in nature makes them persistent in the environment. Many of the analytical techniques presently used for monitoring pollutants such as PCBs require expensive equipment and extensive pretreatment of environmental samples. Recognition of the difficulties inherent in classical analytical techniques has spurred the development of novel sensing systems that use a biological component as the sensory element. In that respect, the goal of this project is to develop their breakdown products (e.g., hydroxylated PCBs, chlorocatechols, etc.) that can be found in hazardous waste sites. The biosensing systems proposed are based on the use of recombinant bacteria that incorporate that catabolic pathways for PCBs along with the expression of reporter genes. In addition, sensors based on mammalian and test cells will also be developed by constructing systems where the expression of a reporter protein is coupled to the binding of the species of interest with the aromatic hydrocarbon receptor. Potential advantages of our proposed biosensory technology include economy, portability and the possibility of identifying and quantifying specific compounds directly in complex mixtures found in soil and groundwater samples.