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Bioelectrochemical biosensor for water toxicity detection: generation of dual signals for electrochemical assay confirmation

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Abstract

Toxicity assessment of water is of great important to the safety of human health and to social security because of more and more toxic compounds that are spilled into the aquatic environment. Therefore, the development of fast and reliable toxicity assessment methods is of great interest and attracts much attention. In this study, by using the electrochemical activity of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 cells as the toxicity indicator, 3,5-dichlorophenol (DCP) as the model toxic compound, a new biosensor for water toxicity assessment was developed. Strikingly, the presence of DCP in the water significantly inhibited the maximum current output of the S. oneidensis MR-1 in a three-electrode system and also retarded the current evolution by the cells. Under the optimized conditions, the maximum current output of the biosensor was proportional to the concentration of DCP up to 30 mg/L. The half maximal inhibitory concentration of DCP determined by this biosensor is about 14.5 mg/L. Furthermore, simultaneous monitoring of the retarded time (Δt) for current generation allowed the identification of another biosensor signal in response to DCP which could be employed to verify the electrochemical result by dual confirmation. Thus, the present study has provided a reliable and promising approach for water quality assessment and risk warning of water toxicity.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province for Distinguished Young Scholars (BK20160015), National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC 51578266, 21306069), a project supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. 30916014102), and a project funded by the Priority Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.

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Author notes

  1. Yuan Yang and Yan-Zhai Wang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biofuels Institute, School of the Environment, Jiangsu University, 301 Xuefu Road, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, 212013, China

    Yuan Yang, Yan-Zhai Wang, Zhen Fang, Yang-Yang Yu & Yang-Chun Yong

  2. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210094, China

    Yang-Chun Yong

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  1. Yuan Yang
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  2. Yan-Zhai Wang
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Correspondence to Yang-Chun Yong.

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Additional information

Published in the topical collection Microbial Biosensors for Analytical Applications with guest editor Gérald Thouand.

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Yang, Y., Wang, YZ., Fang, Z. et al. Bioelectrochemical biosensor for water toxicity detection: generation of dual signals for electrochemical assay confirmation. Anal Bioanal Chem 410, 1231–1236 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-017-0656-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-017-0656-4

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