다양한 질소화합물에 대한 황산화미생물 바이오센서의 응답 특성

초록

BACKGROUND: Run off from agricultural sitescontaminates water bodies with nitrogen which is toxic andcauses eutrophication when excessively accumulated. Hence, the interest in monitoring nitrogen toxicity inaquatic environment has been continuously increasing. METHODS AND RESULTS: To detect a real time toxicityof various nitrogen compounds, we applied biomonitoringmethod (biosensor) based on sulfur-oxidizing bacteria(SOB). The toxicity biomonitoring test was conducted insemi-continuous mode in a reactor filled with sulfurparticles (2∼4 mm diameter) under aerobic condition. Relative toxicity was simply determined by measuring thechange in electrical conductivity (EC). Various nitrogenouscompounds at different concentrations were evaluated as apotential toxic substance. Nitrite was found to be very toxicto SOB with a 90% inhibition even when the concentrationas low as 3 mg/L. However, nitrate and ammonia have anyinhibitory effect on SOB’s activity. CONCLUSION: The biosensor based on SOB respondedsensitively to nitrite even at substantially low concentrations. Therefore, it can be used as a reliable biological alarmsystem for rapid detection of contaminants due to itssimplicity and sensitive nature.

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