Bioluminescent Ratiometric Indicator for Analysis of Water Hardness in Household Water
1
The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research (SANKEN), Osaka University, 8-1 Mihogaoka, Ibaraki 567-0047, Japan
2
Department of Biotechnology, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita 565-0871, Japan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sensors 2020, 20(11), 3164; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20113164
Received: 14 May 2020
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Revised: 26 May 2020
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Accepted: 29 May 2020
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Published: 2 June 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Optical, Fluorescent and Luminescent Biosensors)
Water hardness (WH) is a useful parameter for testing household water, such as drinking, cooking, and washing water. Many countries around the world use pipeline water in their houses, but there is a need to monitor the WH because hard water has a negative impact on appliances. Currently, WH is often measured using chemical dye-based WH indicators, and these techniques require expensive equipment, and trained personnel. Therefore, a low-cost and simple measurement method has been desired. Here, we report LOTUS-W, which consists of a luciferase, Nanoluc, a yellow fluorescent protein Venus, and a Ca2+/Mg2+ detection domain of human centrin 3. The binding of Ca2+/Mg2+ to this indicator changes the conformation of human centrin 3, and induces bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) from Nanoluc to Venus, which changes its emission spectrum about 140%. The dissociation constants of LOTUS-W for Ca2+/Mg2+ are approximately several mM, making it suitable for measuring WH in the household water. With this indicator in combination with a smartphone, we have demonstrated that it is possible to evaluate WH easily and quickly. This novel indicator has the potential to be used for measuring not only household water but also water used in the food industry, etc.
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Keywords:
bioluminescence; indicator ratiometry; water hardness; softener; smartphone
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MDPI and ACS Style
Hossain, M.N.; Ishida, R.; Hattori, M.; Matsuda, T.; Nagai, T. Bioluminescent Ratiometric Indicator for Analysis of Water Hardness in Household Water. Sensors 2020, 20, 3164. https://doi.org/10.3390/s20113164
AMA Style
Hossain MN, Ishida R, Hattori M, Matsuda T, Nagai T. Bioluminescent Ratiometric Indicator for Analysis of Water Hardness in Household Water. Sensors. 2020; 20(11):3164. https://doi.org/10.3390/s20113164
Chicago/Turabian StyleHossain, Md N., Ryuichi Ishida, Mitsuru Hattori, Tomoki Matsuda, and Takeharu Nagai. 2020. "Bioluminescent Ratiometric Indicator for Analysis of Water Hardness in Household Water" Sensors 20, no. 11: 3164. https://doi.org/10.3390/s20113164
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