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Special Issue "Current Advance in Whole-Cell Biosensor"

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A special issue of Biosensors (ISSN 2079-6374). This special issue belongs to the section "Biosensor and Bioelectronic Devices".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2023 | Viewed by 5117

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Special Issue Editor

Dr. Ilya Manukhov

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Guest Editor

Research Center for Molecular Mechanisms of Aging and Age-Related Diseases, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, 141701 Dolgoprudny, Russia
Interests: luminescence; construction of lux-biosensors; chaperones; proteases; antirestrictases, transcription regulation; quorum sensing; homologous recombination; superproducers of cellular metabolites; superproducers of proteins

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Currently, whole-cell biosensors are widely used in the fields of biotechnology, genetic engineering, molecular biology, and biochemistry. Applications of whole-cell biosensors include the general and specific detection of toxic agents, as well as the study of medicines, new substances produced in the chemical industry, and various natural biologically active substances. Whole-cell biosensors are effectively used to determine mechanisms of action of chemical compounds and nanoparticles on cells, as well as to monitor environment pollution. There are two main options in the use of cells as sensors: (1) monitoring the processes of vital activity after treatment with one or more substances with an assessment of general toxicity by examining the decrease in viability and (2) monitoring the induction of sensory systems, including stress response systems with a determination of the class of toxicant or biologically active substance. Both natural unicellular organisms and cell lines and those specially created via genetic engineering are used as whole-cell biosensors.

The current Special Issue is devoted to current trends in the development and application of whole-cell biosensors.

In memory of Zavilgelsky Gennadiy Borisovich

Dr. Ilya Manukhov
Guest Editor

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Keywords

whole cell biosensors
ecotoxicology
probiotics
gene regulation
lux-biosensor
preclinical trials

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

Bacterial Lux Biosensors in Genotoxicological Studies

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Biosensors 2023, 13(5), 511; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios13050511 - 29 Apr 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1067

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the applicability of the bacterial lux biosensors for genotoxicological studies. Biosensors are the strains of E. coli MG1655 carrying a recombinant plasmid with the lux operon of the luminescent bacterium P. luminescens fused with the promoters of inducible genes: recA, colD, alkA, soxS, and katG. The genotoxicity of forty-seven chemical compounds was tested on a set of three biosensors pSoxS-lux, pKatG-lux and pColD-lux, which allowed us to estimate the oxidative and DNA-damaging activity of the analyzed drugs. The comparison of the results with the data on the mutagenic activity of these drugs from the Ames test showed a complete coincidence of the results for the 42 substances. First, using lux biosensors, we have described the enhancing effect of the heavy non-radioactive isotope of hydrogen deuterium (D₂O) on the genotoxicity of chemical compounds as possible mechanisms of this effect. The study of the modifying effect of 29 antioxidants and radioprotectors on the genotoxic effects of chemical agents showed the applicability of a pair of biosensors pSoxS-lux and pKatG-lux for the primary assessment of the potential antioxidant and radioprotective activity of chemical compounds. Thus, the results obtained showed that lux biosensors can be successfully used to identify potential genotoxicants, radioprotectors, antioxidants, and comutagens among chemical compounds, as well as to study the probable mechanism of genotoxic action of test substance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Advance in Whole-Cell Biosensor)

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Open AccessArticle

Cell-Based Sensors for the Detection of EGF and EGF-Stimulated Ca²⁺ Signaling

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Biosensors 2023, 13(3), 383; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios13030383 - 14 Mar 2023

Viewed by 2298

Abstract

Epidermal growth factor (EGF)-mediated activation of EGF receptors (EGFRs) has become an important target in drug development due to the implication of EGFR-mediated cellular signaling in cancer development. While various in vitro approaches are developed for monitoring EGF-EGFR interactions, they have several limitations. Herein, we describe a live cell-based sensor system that can be used to monitor the interaction of EGF and EGFR as well as the subsequent signaling events. The design of the EGF-detecting sensor cells is based on the split-intein-mediated conditional protein trans-cleavage reaction (CPC). CPC is triggered by the presence of the target (EGF) to activate a signal peptide that translocates the fluorescent cargo to the target cellular location (mitochondria). The developed sensor cell demonstrated excellent sensitivity with a fast response time. It was also successfully used to detect an agonist and antagonist of EGFR (transforming growth factor-α and Cetuximab, respectively), demonstrating excellent specificity and capability of screening the analytes based on their function. The usage of sensor cells was then expanded from merely detecting the presence of target to monitoring the target-mediated signaling cascade, by exploiting previously developed Ca²⁺-detecting sensor cells. These sensor cells provide a useful platform for monitoring EGF-EGFR interaction, for screening EGFR effectors, and for studying downstream cellular signaling cascades. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Advance in Whole-Cell Biosensor)

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Open AccessArticle

Genotoxic Effect of Dicyclopropanated 5-Vinyl-2-Norbornene

Uliana S. Novoyatlova

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Biosensors 2023, 13(1), 57; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios13010057 - 29 Dec 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1234

Abstract

Dicyclopropanated 5-vinyl-2-norbornene (dcpVNB) is a strained polycyclic hydrocarbon compound with a high energy content, which makes it promising for the development of propellant components based on it. In this work, the genotoxic properties of dcpVNB were studied using whole-cell lux-biosensors based on Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. It was shown that the addition of dcpVNB to bacterial cells leads to the appearance of DNA damage inducing the SOS response and Dps expression with slight activation of the OxyR-mediated response to oxidative stress. The highest toxic effect of dcpVNB is detected by the following lux-biosensors: E. coli pColD-lux, E. coli pDps, B. subtilis pNK-DinC, and B. subtilis pNK-MrgA, in which the genes of bacterial luciferases are transcriptionally fused to the corresponding promoters: P_cda, P_dps, P_dinC, and P_mrgA. It was shown that lux-biosensors based on B. subtilis, and E. coli are almost equally sensitive to dcpVNB, which indicates the same permeability to this compound of cell wall of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. The activation of P_dps after dcpVNB addition maintains even in oxyR mutant E. coli strains, which means that the P_dps induction is only partially determined by the OxyR/S regulon. Comparison of specific stress effects caused by dcpVNB and 2-ethyl(bicyclo[2.2.1]heptane) (EBH), characterized by the absence of cyclopropanated groups, shows that structural changes in hydrocarbons could significantly change the mode of toxicity. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Advance in Whole-Cell Biosensor)

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