Detecting endocrine disrupting compounds in water using sulfur-oxidizing bacteria

Abstract

For the rapid and reliable detection of endocrine disrupting compounds in water, a novel toxicity detection methodology based on sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (SOB) has been developed. The methodology exploits the ability of SOB to oxidize elemental sulfur to sulfuric acid in the presence of oxygen. The reaction results in an increase in electrical conductivity (EC) and a decrease in pH. When endocrine disrupting compounds were added to the system, the effluent EC decreased and the pH increased due to the inhibition of the SOB. We found that the system can detect these chemicals in the 50-200 ppb range, which is lower than many whole-cell biosensors to date. The SOB biosensor can detect toxicity on the order of min to h which can serve as an early warning so as to not pollute the environment and affect public health.