Biosensor for toxic Arsenic

Arsenic (As) is among the most toxic elements present on Earth. Arsenic tends to accumulate in soils due to the use of fertilizers and pesticides in modern agriculture. A recent environmental project determined that the active forms of this toxic element are the aromatic and trivalent methyl arsenic, taking in consideration these findings; they developed a non- expensive whole-cell bio-sensor which specially detects bacterial biomethylation in arsenic and it breaks down the organic-arsenic compounds and thus, lowering the level of toxicity in the soil . Further testing and analysis is needed to determine the long-term efficiency of this arsenic bio-sensors  

 Reference

Jian Chen, S. Sun, C. Li, Y. Zhu and B. Rosen .2014. Biosensor for organoarsenical herbicides and growth promoters. Environmental Science and Technology. 10.1021/es4038319