AUTHOR=Hua Anna , Gueuné Hervé , Cregut Mickaël , Thouand Gérald , Durand Marie-José 

TITLE=Development of a bacterial bioassay for atrazine and cyanuric acid detection

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=6

YEAR=2015

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2015.00211

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2015.00211

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>The <italic>s</italic>-triazine herbicides are compounds which can disseminate into soils and water. Due to their toxic effects on living organisms, their concentrations in drinking water are legislated by WHO recommendations. Here we have developed for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, an alternative method for physicochemical quantification using two bioluminescent bacterial biosensors: <italic>E. coli</italic> SM003 for cyanuric acid detection and <italic>E. coli</italic> SM004 for both atrazine and cyanuric acid detection. The concentration of cyanuric acid detection for <italic>E. coli</italic> SM003 ranges from 7.83 μM to 2.89 mM, and for <italic>E. coli</italic> SM004 ranges from 0.22 to 15 μM. Moreover, atrazine detection by <italic>E. coli</italic> SM004 ranges from 1.08 to 15 μM. According to WHO recommendations, the cyanuric acid detection range is sensitive enough to discriminate between polluted and drinking water. Nevertheless, the detection of atrazine by <italic>E. coli</italic> SM004 is only applicable for high concentrations of contaminants.</p>