ArticleACS synthetic biology2018
Development of a Pigment-Based Whole-Cell Zinc Biosensor for Human Serum.
Article in ACS synthetic biology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
What it found
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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
29 citing papers in PubMed, 71 citations in OpenAlex.
- Advances and perspectives in genetically encoded biosensors for biomarker detection and theranostic circuits.Synthetic and systems biotechnology · 2027Review
- Programming Next-Generation Synthetic Biosensors by Genetic Circuit Design.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- Harnessing Plasmid Crosstalk in Transcription Factor Mediated Cell-Free Biosensors.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Synthetic Biology-Based Engineering Living Therapeutics for Antimicrobial Application.Exploration (Beijing, China) · 2025Article
- Structural Insights into 4,5-DOPA Extradiol Dioxygenase fromJournal of agricultural and food chemistry · 2025Article
- Microbial biosensors for diagnostics, surveillance and epidemiology: Today's achievements and tomorrow's prospects.Microbial biotechnology · 2024Review
- Pigments from pathogenic bacteria: a comprehensive update on recent advances.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2024Review
- Advancing biological investigations using portable sensors for detection of sensitive samples.Heliyon · 2023Review
- Pb(II)-inducible proviolacein biosynthesis enables a dual-color biosensor toward environmental lead.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Article
- Metabolic engineering of the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway toward a specific and sensitive inorganic mercury biosensor.RSC advances · 2022Article
- HarnessingACS synthetic biology · 2022Article
- A rapid and standardized workflow for functional assessment of bacterial biosensors in fecal samples.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2022Article
- In Vivo Screening Method for the Identification and Characterization of Prokaryotic, Metabolite-Responsive Transcription Factors.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2022Article
- Programming living sensors for environment, health and biomanufacturing.Microbial biotechnology · 2021Article
- Theranostic cells: emerging clinical applications of synthetic biology.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2021Review
- Indigoidine biosynthesis triggered by the heavy metal-responsive transcription regulator: a visual whole-cell biosensor.Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2021Article
- Development of a bioavailable Hg(II) sensing system based on MerR-regulated visual pigment biosynthesis.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Versatile artificial mer operons in Escherichia coli towards whole cell biosensing and adsorption of mercury.PloS one · 2021Article
- Genetic control of violacein biosynthesis to enable a pigment-based whole-cell lead biosensor.RSC advances · 2020Article
- Active Analyte Import Improves the Dynamic Range and Sensitivity of a Vitamin BACS synthetic biology · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Deficiencies in vitamins and minerals (micronutrients) are a critical global health concern, in part due to logistical difficulties in assessing population micronutrient status. Whole-cell biosensors offer a unique opportunity to address this issue, with the potential to move sample analysis from centralized, resource-intensive clinics to minimal-resource, on-site measurement. Here, we present a proof-of-concept whole-cell biosensor in Escherichia coli for detecting zinc, a micronutrient for which deficiencies are a significant public health burden. Importantly, the whole-cell biosensor produces readouts (pigments) that are visible to the naked eye, mitigating the need for measurement equipment and thus increasing feasibility for sensor field-friendliness and affordability at a global scale. Two zinc-responsive promoter/transcription factor systems are used to differentially control production of three distinctly colored pigments in response to zinc levels in culture. We demonstrate strategies for tuning each zinc-responsive system to turn production of the different pigments on and off at different zinc levels, and we demonstrate production of three distinct color regimes over a concentration range relevant to human health. We also demonstrate the ability of the sensor cells to grow and produce pigment when cultured in human serum, the ultimate target matrix for assessing zinc nutritional status. Specifically, we present approaches to overcome innate immune responses that would otherwise hinder bacterial sensor survival, and we demonstrate production of multiple pigment regimes in human serum with different zinc levels. This work provides proof of principle for the development of low-cost, minimal-equipment, field-deployable biosensors for nutritional epidemiology applications.
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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.