ArticleMicrobial biotechnology2011
Whole-cell biosensors for detection of heavy metal ions in environmental samples based on metallothionein promoters from Tetrahymena thermophila.
Article in Microbial biotechnology, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 92 citations in OpenAlex.
- Designing a Whole-Cell Biosensor for Detection of Toxic Metals Using Intein Splicing Inhibition ofACS omega · 2026Article
- Prediction of Influence of Environmental Factors on the Toxicity of Pentachlorophenol onSensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Whole Cells of Microorganisms-A Powerful Bioanalytical Tool for Measuring Integral Parameters of Pollution: A Review.Biosensors · 2025Review
- Intracellular bioaccumulation of the rare earth element Gadolinium in ciliate cells resulting in biogenic particle formation and excretion.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Bioinformatic prediction of putative metallothioneins in non-ciliate protists.Biology letters · 2022Article
- Interactions with Arsenic: Mechanisms of Toxicity and Cellular Resistance in Eukaryotic Microorganisms.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Review
- Detection of Bioavailable Cadmium by Double-Color Fluorescence Based on a Dual-Sensing Bioreporter System.Frontiers in microbiology · 2021Article
- Microalgal Metallothioneins and Phytochelatins and Their Potential Use in Bioremediation.Frontiers in microbiology · 2020Review
- Two plant-hosted whole-cell bacterial biosensors for detection of bioavailable Cr(VI).World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2019Article
- Development of a Cell-Free Optical Biosensor for Detection of a Broad Range of Mercury Contaminants in Water: A Plasmid DNA-Based Approach.ACS omega · 2019Article
- Characterization of a promiscuous cadmium and arsenic resistance mechanism in Thermus thermophilus HB27 and potential application of a novel bioreporter system.Microbial cell factories · 2018Article
- The Application of Whole Cell-Based Biosensors for Use in Environmental Analysis and in Medical Diagnostics.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2017Review
- A Simple Metallothionein-Based Biosensor for Enhanced Detection of Arsenic and Mercury.Biosensors · 2017Article
- Development of a genetically programed vanillin-sensing bacterium for high-throughput screening of lignin-degrading enzyme libraries.Biotechnology for biofuels · 2017Article
- Heavy metal whole-cell biosensors using eukaryotic microorganisms: an updated critical review.Frontiers in microbiology · 2015Article
- Construction of a self-luminescent cyanobacterial bioreporter that detects a broad range of bioavailable heavy metals in aquatic environments.Frontiers in microbiology · 2015Article
- Hints for metal-preference protein sequence determinants: different metal binding features of the five tetrahymena thermophila metallothioneins.International journal of biological sciences · 2015Article
- Functional GFP-metallothionein fusion protein from Tetrahymena thermophila: a potential whole-cell biosensor for monitoring heavy metal pollution and a cell model to study metallothionein overproduction effects.Biometals : an international journal on the role of metal ions in biology, biochemistry, and medicine · 2014Article
- Recent advances in optical biosensors for environmental monitoring and early warning.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2013Review
- Genetically modified whole-cell bioreporters for environmental assessment.Ecological indicators · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Heavy metals are among the most serious pollutants, and thus there is a need to develop sensitive and rapid biomonitoring methods for heavy metals in the environment. Critical parameters such as bioavailability, toxicity and genotoxicity cannot be tested using chemical analysis, but only can be assayed using living cells. A whole-cell biosensor uses the whole cell as a single reporter incorporating both bioreceptor and transducer elements. In the present paper, we report results with two gene constructs using the Tetrahymena thermophila MTT1 and MTT5 metallothionein promoters linked with the eukaryotic luciferase gene as a reporter. This is the first report of a ciliated protozoan used as a heavy metal whole-cell biosensor. T. thermophila transformed strains were created as heavy metal whole-cell biosensors, and turn on bioassays were designed to detect, in about 2 h, the bioavailable heavy metals in polluted soil or aquatic samples. Validation of these whole-cell biosensors was carried out using both artificial and natural samples, including methods for detecting false positives and negatives. Comparison with other published cell biosensors indicates that the Tetrahymena metallothionein promoter-based biosensors appear to be the most sensitive eukaryotic metal biosensors and compare favourably with some prokaryotic biosensors as well.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.