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The term bioluminescence refers to a conspicuous light emission displayed by numerous aquatic and terrestrial organisms. This phenomenon has so far not been observed in several taxonomic groups like archaea, protista, platyhelminthes, chelicerata, cephalochordata, amphibians, reptiles, birds, plants, and mammals. However, some luminescent bacteria, fungi and microalgae like dinoflagellates are known. Bioluminescence has become a powerful biological tool and revolutionized several medical, physiological and biotechnological approaches, such as, for example, the study of metabolic pathways of bacteria to mammals. In 2008 O. Shimomura, M. Chalfie and R. Tsien were awarded the Chemistry Nobel prize for their discovery of the protein GFP, which is co-expressed with aequorin, the calcium-activated photoprotein involved in the bioluminescence reaction of the jellyfish Aequorea victoria. Some organisms are known to display bioluminescence only under certain kinds of stimulation and stress conditions; others appear to produce their light without prior stimulation either continuously or intermittently. Despite the discovery of more than 700 genera of bioluminescent organisms from marine, terrestrial, and freshwater environments, there is often still insufficient knowledge about their bioluminescence emission patterns under natural and stress conditions. Furthermore, there are no detailed reviews on stimulation techniques that can be used to test whether organisms previously not having been recognized to be luminescent are luminescent or not. This paper reviews various stimulants, such as chemical, mechanical, photic, thermal, magnetic and electrical ones, used in tests to elicit the emission of light in known bioluminescent organisms. This account should help researchers to extend their investigations to identify organisms hitherto not deemed to be luminescent.

The composition of atmospheric particulate matter, including particle-bound polyaromatic hydrocarbons, generally shows a clear seasonal pattern which is reflected in its ecotoxicity as well. This study aimed at characterising seasonal differences in the ecotoxicity of rural aerosol samples applying both luminescent bacteria and higher plants as test organisms. Higher plant phytotoxicity was assessed by the Sinapis alba root growth inhibition test and the Vegetative Vigour Test. Different bioassays and end-points showed different sensitivity: while the Sinapis alba assay showed no toxic effect, luminescent bacteria proved an excellent screening tool, detecting no toxicity in the summer sample and the highest inhibition in the winter sample, with EC20 = 9.87%. In the case of Vegetative Vigour Test, parallel application of different end-points revealed that atmospheric particulate matter might have a Janus-faced effect: stimulation of photosynthetic pigments due to nutrient content and growth impairment due to toxic components.

Introduction: Bioluminescence is the ability of certain organisms to transform chemical energy into light energy through various biochemical processes. Objective: Isolation and identification for the first time of luminescent bacteria of superficial marine water, and the identification of marine luminescent dinoflagellates of Isla del Coco National Park, Costa Rica. Methods: Samples of seawater obtained by diving at 20 m and at a surface level of 13 sites were collected. On the other hand, phytoplankton samples collected from the surface up to 30 m deep were analyzed in the surroundings of 8 sites of Cocos Island, and several luminescent species belonging to the genera Ornithocercus and Ceratocorys were determined. Results: Seven luminescent bacterial isolates were obtained, they were identified and characterized biochemically by means of an automated platform (Vitek) with high levels of confidence, they were taxonomically located within the genus Vibrio, 2 species: V. alginolyticus and V. parahaemolyticus, in addition, some isolates presented resistance to the antibiotic ampicillin and 100% hemolytic capacity. This research shows evidence of the presence of marine microscopic species in Cocos Island, Costa Rica, capable of presenting the phenomenon of luminescence, so that further study would be relevant in terms of the importance of these microorganisms in the production of metabolites secondary and as indicators of harmful algal blooms, so it is necessary to conduct more scientific research to determine their biotechnological potential. Conclusions: In the same way, the results obtained in this investigation suggest expanding the collection and isolation of luminescent microorganisms, accompanied by a biochemical and molecular characterization, in order to explore the microbial diversity associated with luminescence events and determine the environments in which that these species develop. Introducción: La bioluminiscencia es la capacidad de ciertos organismos para transformar la energía química en energía luminosa a través de varios procesos bioquímicos. Objetivo: Aislamiento e identificación por primera vez de bacterias luminiscentes de aguas marinas superficiales, e identificación de dinoflagelados luminiscentes marinos del Parque Nacional Isla del Coco, Costa Rica. Métodos: Se recolectaron muestras de agua de mar obtenidas al bucear a 20 my a nivel de superficie de 13 sitios. Por otro lado, se analizaron muestras de fitoplancton recolectadas desde la superficie hasta 30 m de profundidad en los alrededores de 8 sitios de la Isla del Coco, y se determinaron varias especies luminiscentes pertenecientes a los géneros Ornithocercus y Ceratocorys. Resultados: Se obtuvieron siete aislados bacterianos luminiscentes, se identificaron y caracterizaron bioquímicamente mediante una plataforma automatizada (Vitek) con altos niveles de confianza, se ubicaron taxonómicamente dentro del género Vibrio, 2 especies: V. alginolyticus y V. parahaemolyticus, además, algunos aislados presentaron resistencia al antibiótico ampicilina y capacidad hemolítica del 100%. Esta investigación muestra evidencia de la presencia de especies microscópicas marinas en la Isla del Coco, Costa Rica, capaces de presentar el fenómeno de la luminiscencia, por lo que sería relevante un mayor estudio en cuanto a la importancia de estos microorganismos en la producción de metabolitos secundarios y como indicadores. de las floraciones de algas nocivas, por lo que es necesario realizar más investigaciones científicas para determinar su potencial biotecnológico. Conclusiones: De la misma manera, los resultados obtenidos en esta investigación sugieren ampliar la colección y aislamiento de microorganismos luminiscentes, acompañados de una caracterización bioquímica y molecular, con el fin de explorar la diversidad microbiana asociada a eventos de luminiscencia y determinar los ambientes en los que estos las especies se desarrollan. Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica Universidad de Costa Rica Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas

Thorium is one of the most widespread radioactive elements in natural ecosystems, along with uranium, it is the most important source of nuclear energy. However, the effects of thorium on living organisms have not been thoroughly studied. Marine luminescent bacteria and their enzymes are optimal bioassays for studying low-dose thorium exposures. Luminescent bioassays provide a quantitative measure of toxicity and are characterized by high rates, sensitivity, and simplicity. It is known that the metabolic activity of bacteria is associated with the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). We studied the effects of thorium-232 (10−11–10−3 M) on Photobacterium phosphoreum and bacterial enzymatic reactions; kinetics of bacterial bioluminescence and ROS content were investigated in both systems. Bioluminescence activation was revealed under low-dose exposures (

In the bioethanol industry, per liter of the produced alcohol 9 to 14 liters of vinasse are obtained as a byproduct. If the vinasse is directly shed into bodies of water without an adequate treatment, it may have negative effects on the existing biota and human health due to its high turbidity and color, low pH and high content of organic material. The purpose of this study was to assess the acute toxicity of vinasse by means of a rapid test with Aliivibrio fischeri and compare it with a standard immobilization assay with Daphnia magna. The standard assay of D. magna by means of its EC50 of 4.7% showed that organism was more sensitive to the contaminant, in comparison with the 69.6% obtained with the A. fischeri which suggests that it should be continuesly used as one of the organisms of first choice for the evaluation of the acute toxicity of this effluent.

Organic ligands are commonly believed to decrease the toxicity of metal ions, but there is few experimental evidence, especially for chromium (Cr(III)), which often coexists with organic compounds in industrial effluents. Here, the complexation of Cr(III) with acetate, lactate, l-tartrate, biphthalate and oxalate was tested under the conditions of a toxicity test, with high ion strength, by spectroscopic techniques. The stability constants of the complexes were found to follow the order Cr(III) oxalate > Cr(III) lactate > Cr(III) biphthalate > Cr(III) L-tartrate > Cr(III) acetate. Then, aquatic toxicity of Cr(III) to Photobacterium phosphoreum for a 15-min exposure period was tested in the absence and presence of organic ligands. Results unexpectedly show that the complexation of Cr(III) with acetic, lactate, l-tartrate and biphthalate resulted in enhanced toxicity to luminescent bacteria, whereas the coordination of Cr(III) with oxalate sharply alleviated the toxicity of individual oxalate and inorganic Cr(III), which was further confirmed by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Our findings show thus that organics do not always mitigate the toxicity of Cr(III) in acidic water.

Previous studies demonstrated long-term stimulation of some commercial personal care products (PCPs) on freshwater luminescent bacteria Vibrio qinghaiensis sp .-Q67 (Q67). However, whether a certain component can affect mixture's hormetic effect is still unknown. In this paper, two of ingredients in PCPs, 2-phenoxyethanol (PhE) and polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG400), were selected as object compounds to explore the relationship between concentration-response (CR) of mixtures and that of a single component. It was found that PEG400 has monotonic CR (MCR) on Q67 both at the short-term (0.25 h) and long-term (12 h) exposures while PhE has MCR at 0.25 h and hormetic CR (HCR) at 12 h. Here, the concentration-response curves (CRCs) of PEG400 at 0.25 and 12 h are overlapped each other and the CRCs of PEG400 are on the right of PhE. If the pEC 50 is taken as a toxic index, the toxicities of PEG400 at two times are basically the same, and those of PhE are the same, too, but PhE is twice as toxic as PEG400. For the mixtures of PEG400 and PhE, all rays except R1 have MCRs at 0.25 h while all rays have HCRs at 12 h where the higher the mixture ratio of PhE is, the more negative the maximum stimulation effect is. More importantly, the E min values of all rays are more negative (1.79–3.17-fold) than that of PhE worked alone, which implies that the introduction of PEG400 significantly enhances stimulative effect of PhE. At 0.25 h, all binary mixture rays but R1 produce a low-concentration additive action and high-concentration synergism. At 12 h, all rays display additive action, antagonism, additive action, and synergism in turn when the concentration changes from low to high. The overall findings suggested toxicological interactions should be considered in the risk assessment of PCPs and their potential impacts on ecological balances.

The development of a sensitive and reliable method for the detection of bioaccumulated heavy metal toxins is highly desirable for biotoxicity evaluation. However, the conventional biotoxicity evaluation method based on luminescent bacteria suffers from only being able to detect the overall toxicity without selectivity in light-off detection mode. Although various synthetic fluorescent probes have been developed for the selective detection of heavy metal ions, they usually suffer from aggregation-caused quenching after local accumulation in biological systems. To tackle these challenges, we herein develop a dual detection strategy for bioaccumulated Hg2+ based on turn-off of the bioluminescence of P. phosphoreum bacteria by disrupting the quorum sensing system and turn-on of the photoluminescence of an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) probe by forming aggregates with Hg2+ inside the bacteria. It is expected that the dual detection strategy would find broad applications in the evaluation of bioaccumulated toxins.

Background A European inter-laboratory test with 29 participating laboratories investigated whether a battery of four ecotoxicological tests is suitable for assessing the environmental compatibility of construction products. For this purpose, a construction product was investigated with the dynamic surface leaching test (DIN CEN/TS 16637-2) and the percolation test (DIN CEN/TS 16637-3). The eluates were produced centrally by one laboratory and were tested by the participants using the following biotests: algae test (ISO 8692), acute daphnia test (ISO 6341), luminescent bacteria test (DIN EN ISO 11348), and fish egg test (DIN EN ISO 15088). As toxicity measures, EC50 and LID values were calculated. Results Toxic effects of the eluates were detected by all four biotests. The bacteria test was by far the most sensitive, followed by the algae test and the daphnia test; the fish egg test was the least sensitive for eluates of both leaching tests. The toxicity level of the eluates was very high in the bacteria, daphnia, and algae test, with lowest ineffective dilution values of LID = 70 to LID = 13,000 and corresponding EC50 values around or even below 1 volume percent. The reproducibility (approximated by interlaboratory variability) of the biotests was good ( Conclusion It can be confirmed that the combination of leaching and ecotoxicity tests is suitable to characterize with sufficient reproducibility the environmental impact posed by the release of hazardous substances from construction products.

Fifteen native luminescent bacteria were isolated from the Gulf of Thailand, and their sensitivity for the detection of toxicity of crude oil and its aromatic components was investigated. Of these isolates, Vibrio campbellii strain FS5 was one of the two most highly inhibited bacteria at all crude oil concentrations. This bacterium showed a decrease in luminescence intensity of between 10.7 and 80.2% after a 15-min exposure to 0.0001–10 mg/L of crude oil. The degree of bioluminescence inhibition increased with increasing concentrations of crude oil. The presence of crude oil at all concentrations had negative effects on the log bioluminescence per log number of viable cells after 15- to 105-min exposure. About 10 to 100 times, lower half maximal effective concentration (EC50) values were observed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) than those for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX). In the presence of each individual BTEX and PAH, the bioluminescence inhibition increased with increasing exposure time (1–32 h). This indigenous bacterium can be used as a simple and general indicator of oil contamination and its impact on coastal waters as well as for assessing potential toxicity during oil bioremediation.

Introduction: The light-emitting enzyme complex of luminescent bacteria is a powerful biochemical tool, with a wide variety of applications includ-ing environmental quality monitoring. Objectives: To identify taxonomically two luminescent bacteria from Cuban shelf waters, as well as select the culture media that favor their growth and luminescence. Methods: The taxonomic location of the luminescent bacteria was carried out using traditional and molecular methods. Four culture media (LM, Boss, Chalk, ZoBell) were evaluated as a function of specific growth rate (μ) and lumines-cence, using a Genesys 10UV spectrophotometer and a Shimadzu RF-5301pc spectrofluorometer, respectively.Results: Biochemical and physiological characterization of CBM-976 and CBM-992 isolates showed similari-ties with Vibrio harveyi species. Phylogenetic positioning analysis confirmed a high correspondence with V. harveyi strains isolated from aquatic environments, using partial sequences of 16S rRNA, gyrB and pyrH genes. LM and ZoBell culture media were selected for having a high specific growth rate of CBM-976 and CBM-992 strains, as well as for showing high luminescence values. The results will allow deepening the physiological characterization and are the starting point for the development of contaminant detection methods. Conclusions: The rational combination of physiological and biochemical characteristics, as well as the molecular approach, contributed to determine the taxonomic position of CBM-976 and CBM-992 strains isolated from Cuban marine waters as Vibrio harveyi. Furthermore, LM and ZoBell culture media were selected as the most suitable for growth and luminescence emission for both strains. Introducción: El complejo de enzimas emisoras de luz de bacterias luminiscentes es una poderosa herramienta bioquímica, con una amplia variedad de aplicaciones, incluido el monitoreo de la calidad ambiental. Objetivos: Identificar taxonómicamente dos bacterias luminiscentes de la plataforma de aguas cubanas, así como seleccionar los medios de cultivo que favorezcan su crecimiento y luminiscencia. Métodos: La localización taxonómica de las bacterias luminiscentes se realizó mediante métodos tradicionales y moleculares. Se evaluaron cuatro medios de cultivo (LM, Boss, Chalk, ZoBell) en función de la tasa de crecimiento específico (μ) y luminiscencia, utilizando un espectrofotómetro Genesys 10UV y un espectrofluorómetro Shimadzu RF-5301pc, respectivamente. Resultados: Caracterización bioquímica y fisiológica de los aislados de CBM-976 y CBM-992 mostraron similitudes con las especies de Vibrio harveyi. El análisis de posicionamiento filogenético confirmó una alta correspondencia con las cepas de V. harveyi aisladas de ambientes acuáticos, utilizando secuencias parciales de los genes 16S rRNA, gyrB y pyrH. Los medios de cultivo LM y ZoBell se seleccionaron por tener una alta tasa de crecimiento específico de las cepas CBM-976 y CBM-992, así como por mostrar altos valores de luminiscencia. Los resultados permitirán profundizar en la caracterización fisiológica y son el punto de partida para el desarrollo de métodos de detección de contaminantes. Conclusiones: La combinación racional de características fisiológicas y bioquímicas, así como el enfoque molecular, contribuyeron a determinar la posición taxonómica de cepas CBM-976 y CBM-992 aisladas de aguas marinas cubanas como Vibrio harveyi. Además, los medios de cultivo LM y ZoBell se seleccionaron como los más adecuados para el crecimiento y la emisión de luminiscencia para ambas cepas. Universidad Nacional, Costa Rica Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Medio Ambiente, Cuba Universidad de La Habana, Cuba Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas

Protecting the quality of lake watersheds by preventing and reducing their contamination is an effective approach to ensure the sustainability of the drinking water supply. In this study, acute toxicity assessment was conducted on the basis of acute bioluminescence inhibition assay using the marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri as the test organism and Luoma Lake drinking water source in East China as the research target. The suitable ranges of environmental factors, including pH value, organic matter, turbidity, hardness, and dissolved oxygen of water samples were evaluated for the toxicity testing of bioluminescent bacteria. The physicochemical characteristics of water samples at the selected 43 sites of Luoma Lake watershed were measured. Results showed that the variations in pH value (7.31–8.41), hardness (5–20 °d) and dissolved oxygen (4.44–11.03 mg/L) of Luoma Lake and its main inflow and outflow rivers had negligible impacts on the acute toxicity testing of V. fischeri. The luminescence inhibition rates ranged from −11.21% to 10.80% at the 43 sites. Pearson’s correlation analysis in the experiment revealed that temperature, pH value, hardness, and turbidity had no correlation with luminescence inhibition rate, whereas dissolved oxygen showed a weak statistically positive correlation with a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.455 (p < 0.05).

Toxicity monitoring of harmful radiation is an indispensable issue in modern radioecology. As bioluminescent bacteria have the simplest structure to epitomize the biosphere, their bioluminescence can also act as an indicator of the conditions, therefore assay systems based on luminous bacteria can be used to monitor environmental radiotoxicity. The present investigation explored the measurement of bacterial luminescence, which can be easily computed. Bioluminescent bacterial strains were used to evaluate the effect of ultraviolet (UV) and gamma irradiation. A random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) assay was carried out to observe alterations under exposure. Using a phylogenetic tree, a comparative study of the effect of UV and gamma rays was carried out. The isolated strains showed marked sensitivity towards radiation exposure present in the environment and therefore they could be used as potential biosensing elements for developing an on-site pollution monitoring biosensor.

Although luminescent bacteria-based bioluminescence inhibition assay has been widely used in the toxicity assessment of environmental pollutants, the response of a luminescent bacterium usually lacks specificity to a target analyte. Recently, some specific analyte inductive promoters were fused to the lux genes for the purpose of selective bioluminescent sensing, and suits of specific promoters were fused to lux genes to compose a bioluminescent array sensor for simultaneous identification of multiple analytes. However, specific promoter-based methods still suffer from drawbacks including limited selectivity, slow responding time, expensive to construct different promoters involved plasmids, and laborious to find new promoters. Herein, we proposed a novel strategy to construct a lux reporter array sensor by directly transforming the natural lux genes in different bacterial hosts without the involvement of any specific promoters. Due to the distinct pathways of signal production, the responding time of the current different bacterial host (DBH)-based lux reporter array has nearly an order of magnitude faster than with specific promoter-based methods. The DBH-based lux reporter array was successfully used for simultaneous identification, quantification, and toxicity/bioactivity assessment of multiple metal ions. Obviously, all the chemical synthetic material-based metal ion sensing methods cannot simultaneously achieve analysis and toxicity evaluation. This approach possessed additional advantages of facile construction, easy operation, high selectivity, fast response, and strong adaptability to other analytes. A different bacterial host-based lux reporter array was established for simultaneous analysis and toxicity assessment of multiple metal ions.

The production of biodegradable plastics is considered to be a way to reduce plastic waste issue. Among others, oxo-degradant additives enable a faster degradation of plastics in the environment. However, the introduction of these new materials could provoke the release of substances potentially toxic in the environment. This work determined and compared the toxicity of leachates from various additivated polymers (polyethylene, PE; polypropylene, PP; polystyrene, PS) upon different test organisms: plants (Sorghum saccharatum, Lepidium sativum, Sinapis alba, and Vicia faba), crustacean (Daphnia magna), and luminescent bacteria (Vibrio fischeri). Daphnia magna survival was mainly affected by PS and PP leachates (72% and 61% effect, respectively) while PS notably reduced the reproduction rate. On plants, only PP exerted a negative effect (S. saccharatum IG% 32.4), while V. fischeri always showed values around 50%. The data integration, through the Toxicity Test Battery Integrated Index (TBI) approach, allowed to rank the leachates toxicity as PE > PS > PP. This result could be mainly ascribable to the highest metals content in PE since no difference with organic compounds analysis was evidenced. In conclusion, since the polymers exerted dissimilar toxicity, the additive could not be considered the sole responsible of the measured toxicity, but its role in the enhancement of the virgin polymers leachates effects can be solidly hypothesized.

Проблематика. Сучасною проблемою є визначення особливостей характеристик різних мікроорганізмів для біоіндикації активності стану геофізичних параметрів середовища.Мета. Виявлення кореляційних залежностей між значеннями інтенсивності світіння бактерій Photobacterium phosphoreum та факторами, що визначають геомагнітну активність.Методика реалізації. Визначались оптимальні параметри суспензії для досліджень інтенсивності біолюмінісценції як біоіндикатора стану геомагнітного поля. Протягом 2 місяців проводили моніторинг питомої інтенсивності світіння бактерій і порівнювали її зі щоденними значеннями активності геомагнітного поля в умовах м. Києва в години проведення досліджень біолюмінесценції. Визначення варіацій геомагнітного поля проводилось за даними Центру прогнозу космічної погоди Національного управління океанічних і атмосферних досліджень США. Опис сонячної активності проводили для “чисел Вольфа” та потоку сонячного радіовипромінювання на довжині хвилі 10,7 см.Результати. Було розраховано коефіцієнти кореляції змін щоденних значень інтенсивності біолюмінесценції бактерій та порівняно їх зі значенням К-індексу та Ар-індексу, “чисел Вольфа” і потоку сонячного радіовипромінювання. Визначено обернено пропорційний достовірний середній кореляційний зв’язок R = -0,41 між значеннями питомої бактеріальної люмінесценції та К-індексами геомагнітного поля, а зі значеннями потоку сонячного радіовипромінювання встановлено достовірний прямо пропорційний зв’язок. Показано, що при збільшенні інтенсивності варіацій геомагнітного поля відбувається зменшення значень питомої інтенсивності біолюмінесценції бактерій.Висновки. Показано наявність достовірної оберненої залежності між К-індексами геомагнітного поля та питомою інтенсивністю люмінесценції P. рhosphoreum, коефіцієнт кореляції у місяці з підвищеною геомагнітною активністю дорівнював R = -0,51. Використання автоматизованої системи моніторингу інтенсивності світіння люмінесцентних бактерій дає можливість краще прогнозувати в часі наявність збурень магнітного поля Землі., Background. An actual problem is determination of features of different micro-organisms for the activity bioindication of environment geophysical parameter state.Objective. The aim of the paper is to determine correlation dependences between values of luminescence intensity of bacteria Photobacterium phosphoreum and factors determining geomagnetic activity.Methods. The optimum parameters of suspension were determined for research of bioluminescence intensity as a bioindicator of the geomagnetic field state. The monitoring of specific intensity of bacteria luminescence has been carried out for 2 months and it was compared to the daily values of activity of the geomagnetic field in the conditions of Kiev, during the research of bioluminescence. Vari­ation determination of the geomagnetic field was conducted from data of Space Environment Center, NOAA & U.S. Air Force. Description of sun activity was conducted with the use of the "Wolf numbers" and flux of sun radio radiation at a wavelength 10,7 сm.Results. The correlation coefficients of changes of bacteria bioluminescence intensity daily values were calculated and compared to the K-index and Ap-index values, "Wolf numbers", and flux of sun radio radiation. The inverse proportional reliable average correlation was defined R = -0,41 between the values of specific bacterial luminescence and the K-indexes of the geomagnetical field, and with the values of flux of sun radio radiation – reliable directly proportional correlation. It is shown, that at the geomagnetic field variation intensity increase there is reduction of values of bacteria bioluminescence specific intensity.Conclusions. The presence of reliable inverse dependence between K-indexes of geomagnetic field is shown and specific intensity of the P. rhosphoreum luminescence, the correlation coefficient in months with increased geomagnetic activity was R = -0,51. The use of the automated system of the luminescent bacteria luminescence intensity monitoring allows better forecasting in time the manifestations of indignations of the Earth’s magnetic field., Проблематика. Современной проблемой является определение особенностей характеристик разных микроорганизмов для биоиндикации активности состояния геофизических параметров среды.Цель. Определение корреляционных зависимостей между значениями интенсивности свечения бактерий Photobacterium phosphoreum и факторами, определяющими геомагнитную активность.Методика реализации. Определяли оптимальные параметры суспензии для исследований интенсивности биолюминесценции в качестве биоиндикатора состояния геомагнитного поля. На протяжении 2 месяцев проводили мониторинг удельной интенсивности свечения бактерий и сравнивали ее с ежедневными значениями активности геомагнитного поля в условиях г. Киева во время проведения исследований биолюминесценции. Определения вариаций геомагнитного поля проводились по данным Центра прогноза космической погоды Национального управления океанических и атмосферных исследований США. Описание солнечной активности проводили для “чисел Вольфа” и потока солнечного радиоизлучения на длине волны 10,7 см.Результаты. Были рассчитаны коэффициенты корреляции изменений ежедневных значений интенсивности биолюминесценции бактерий и сравнены со значениями К-индекса и Ар-индекса, “чисел Вольфа” и потока солнечного радиоизлучения. Определена обратно пропорциональная достоверная средняя корреляционная связь R = -0,41 между значениями удельной бактериальной люминесценции и К-индексами геомагнитного поля, а со значениями потока солнечного радиоизлучения установлена достоверная прямо пропорциональная связь. Показано, что при увеличении интенсивности вариаций геомагнитного поля происходит уменьшение значений удельной интенсивности биолюминесценции бактерий.Выводы. Показано наличие достоверной обратной зависимости между К-индексами геомагнитного поля и удельной интенсивностью люминесценции P. рhosphoreum, коэффициент корреляции в месяцы с повышенной геомагнитной активностью равнялся R = -0,51. Использование автоматизированной системы мониторинга интенсивности свечения люминесцентных бактерий позволяет лучше прогнозировать во времени проявления возмущений магнитного поля Земли.

It has been stated by researchers that the antibiotic polymyxin B sulfate (POL) is a key component inducing time-dependent antagonism in freshwater luminescent bacteria, Vibrio qinghaiensis sp.-Q67, exposed in the ternary mixture system of the ionic liquids, pesticide and antibiotics. However, the previous statement is limited to ternary and quaternary mixtures without considering situations such as the binary system. In order to prove the direct inducing of antagonism by POL in a more complete and systematic way, two categories of experiments (adding POL in non-antagonistic ternary system and decomposing antagonistic ternary system with POL into the binary system) have been conducted in this paper. The results showed that quaternary mixture systems (adding POL to non-antagonism ternary mixture, up verification) exhibit antagonistic action in a majority of rays, at some point in the experiment. However, by decomposing the antagonistic ternary mixtures with POL into binary mixtures (down verification), the combined toxicities of binary mixtures at all time points in the experiment are additive. Obviously, the POL has a significant contribution to antagonism only in the ternary and quaternary mixtures, but not in the binary mixtures. We can draw a new conclusion that the antagonism of the multi-component mixtures is induced by at least three components (including POL), with complex chemical interactions. Therefore, considering POL's influence of antagonism as an example, future environmental protection practitioners and academic researchers should construct more scenarios of mixtures when assessing the influences and reactions of certain chemicals causing pollutions.

The evaluation of the ecotoxicological effects of water pollutants is performed by using different aquatic organisms. The effects of seven compounds belonging to a class of widespread contaminants, the benzo-fused nitrogen heterocycles, on a group of simple organisms employed in reference ISO tests on water quality (unicellular algae and luminescent bacteria) have been assessed to ascertain their suitability in revealing different contamination levels in the water, wastewater, and sediments samples. Representative compounds of benzotriazoles, benzothiazoles, and benzenesulfonamides, were tested at a concentration ranging from 0.01 to 100 mg L−1. In particular, our work was focused on the long-term effects, for which little information is up to now available. Species-specific sensitivity for any whole family of pollutants was not observed. On average, the strongest growth rate inhibition values were expressed by the freshwater Raphidocelis subcapitata and the marine Phaeodactylum tricornutum algae. R. subcapitata was the only organism for which growth was affected by most of the compounds at the lowest concentrations. The tests on the bioluminescent bacterium Vibrio fisheri gave completely different results, further underlining the need for an appropriate selection of the best biosensors to be employed in biotoxicological studies.

In the last decades, there has been an increasing concern about the human exposure to indoor dust. Therefore, it is imperative to assess the toxicity of indoor dust and associated dust extracts. In this study, the acute toxicity assessment of indoor dust was performed using a bioluminescence test, with Photobacterium phosphoreum T3 (PPT3) chosen as the test bacterium. The different indoor dust samples were collected from residences, offices, dormitories and laboratories in Shanghai, China. Our data reveal that PPT3 is more active to water-soluble ions and organic contaminants at low concentrations, while extract solutions elicit increased bacterial toxicity at high concentrations. The results of a bioluminescence assay by PPT3 indicated that the dust organic extracts exhibited increased toxicity compared with the water exacts. Dust extracts from the laboratory exhibited the greatest bacterial toxicity when compared with office, dormitory and residence samples. Moreover, office dust exhibited higher bacterial toxicity than residence dust. Furthermore, the comprehensive toxicity of dust on PPT3 was assessed by extracts toxicity -addition (i.e. IRaddition). The calculated values were close to the corresponding experimental data. The bioluminescence test showed the indoor dust samples are weakly toxic to PPT3, which are equivalent to 0.046–0.123 mg Hg•L−1. Different dust extracts among the different sampling sites showed varying toxicity to PPT3. This study provides some important information to understand the potential health risk from different indoor environment using a rapid bioluminescence assay.

Light emitted by luminescent bacteria is sensitive to several toxic compounds; therefore, some luminous species have been used to evaluate the quality of water environments. In the present study we carried out the phenotypic characterization and molecular identification of a marine luminescent isolate (CBM-784) from the NW Cuban coast. The identification of the CBM-784 luminous isolate was based on phenotypic and genotypic characteristics. Phenotypically, the CBM-784 strain revealed the following characteristics: Gram negative, positive to oxidase and catalase reactions,bioluminescent, and facultative anaerobic respiration. The bacterial strain produces enzymes with gelatinase, lysine carboxylase and amylase activity. Taken together, these assays indicated that CBM-784 showed a high phenotypic similarity to the Vibrio harveyi ATCC 14126 strain. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequencing, CBM-784 was closely related to Vibrio harveyi and Vibrio rotiferianus (94% similarity). Sequence analysis of gyrB gene, has shown that CBM-784 shares taxonomic position with Vibrio campbellii and Vibrio harveyi isolates, with 95% of bootstrap value. In addition, sequence analysis of pyrH gene, grouped this isolate to the Vibrio harveyi cluster with a strong bootstrap support (99%). The multilocus sequence analysis and phenotypic characterization of CBM-784 indicated that this strain have a strong relation to Vibrio harveyi.

Chlorination is essential to the safety of reclaimed water; however, this process leads to concern regarding the formation of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) and toxicity. This study reviewed the formation and control strategies for DBPs and toxicity in reclaimed water during chlorination. Both regulated and emerging DBPs have been frequently detected in reclaimed water during chlorination at a higher level than those in drinking water, indicating they pose a greater risk to humans. Luminescent bacteria and Daphnia magna acute toxicity, anti-estrogenic activity and cytotoxicity generally increased after chlorination because of the formation of DBPs. Genotoxicity by umu-test and estrogenic activity were decreased after chlorination because of destruction of toxic chemicals. During chlorination, water quality significantly impacted changes in toxicity. Ammonium tended to attenuate toxicity changes by reacting with chlorine to form chloramine, while bromide tended to aggravate toxicity changes by forming hypobromous acid. During pretreatment by ozonation and coagulation, disinfection byproduct formation potential (DBPFP) and toxicity formation potential (TFP) occasionally increase, which is accompanied by DOC removal; thus, the decrease of DOC was limited to indicate the decrease of DBPFP and TFP. It is more important to eliminate the key fraction of precursors such as hydrophobic acid and hydrophilic neutrals. During chlorination, toxicities can increase with the increasing chlorine dose and contact time. To control the excessive toxicity formation, a relatively low chlorine dose and short contact time were required. Quenching chlorine residual with reductive reagents also effectively abated the formation of toxic compounds.

The widespread use of organic ultraviolet (UV) filters in personal care products raises concerns about their potentially hazardous effects on human and ecosystem health. In this study, the toxicities of four commonly used benzophenones (BPs) UV filters including benzophenone (BP), 2-Hydroxybenzophenone (2HB), 2-Hydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone (BP3), and 2-Hydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone-5-sulfonicacid (BP4) in water were assayed in vitro using Vibrio fischeri, SOS/umu assay, and yeast estrogen screen (YES) assay, as well as in vivo using zebrafish larvae. The results showed that the luminescent bacteria toxicity, expressed as logEC50, increased with the lipophilicity (logKow) of BPs UV filters. Especially, since 2HB, BP3 and BP4 had different substituent groups, namely -OH, -OCH3 and -SO3H, respectively, these substituent functional groups had a major contribution to the lipophilicity and acute toxicity of these BPs. Similar tendency was observed for the genotoxicity, expressed as the value of induction ratio=1.5. Moreover, all the target BPs UV filters showed estrogenic activity, but no significant influences of lipophilicity on the estrogenicity were observed, with BP3 having the weakest estrogenic efficiency in vitro. Although BP3 displayed no noticeable adverse effects in any in vitro assays, multiple hormonal activities were observed in zebrafish larvae including estrogenicity, anti-estrogenicity and anti-androgenicity by regulating the expression of target genes. The results indicated potential hazardous effects of BPs UV filters and the importance of the combination of toxicological evaluation methods including in vitro and in vivo assays.

Phthalates has been widely used in children's toys as plastic plasticizers and softeners. The aim of this study was to extract chemically phthalates from 20 toy samples and determine toxicity using the Vibrio fischeri luminescent bacteria test. Subsequently the (the concentration producing 50% of maximal effect) was employed to characterize the toxicity of the sample and select the appropriate solvent from methanol, ethanol or glycerol in order to assess the adverse effects of di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) or di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and not solvent interference on Vibrio fischeri. Data showed that toxicity of glycerol was relatively low when the concentration was less than 0.44 mol/L. Therefore glycerol was selected as solvent. DBP and DEHP produced toxicity on Vibrio fischeri in the order of DEHP > DBP. The was 0.437 and 0.182 mol/L, respectively. This study provides the foundation for examination of combined toxic effects of the mixture of DBP and DEHP on Vibrio fischeri which is of signif...

Biological effects and ecotoxicity of NPs CeO2 with particle size Δ50 =16 nm and hydrobionts tolerance was measured in simulation based on test-reactions of a group of organisms representing major trophic levels of aquatic ecosystem. Biological activity of NPs CeO2 was noted against bacterial biosensor Ekolum, Сhlorella v. B.,Parameciumc., Daphniam. S. and Danior. Toxicity and hazard level of NPs CeO2 were measured using biotesting and hydrobionts. Toxicity of NPs CeO2 against luminescent bacteria Ekolum and Parameciumc. and Danior. was not established (L(E)С50 > 100 mg/l). In accordance with SGS and EC 93/67/EEC, NPs CeO2 is considered highly toxic (acute toxicity Level 1). Biomarkers and NPs CeO2 tolerant hydrobionts were determined. Range of tolerance of hydrobionts to NPs was established. The upper limit of tolerance was determined for certain hydrobionts by values of L(E)С50: 0.009 mg/l (by volume of Chl a) for Сhlorella v. B. and 46.15 mg/l (by mobility) for Daphniam. S.

A biosensitive element in the form of bacterial Photobacterium phosphoreum cells immobilized in poly(vinyl alcohol) cryogel was tested for the determination of different mycotoxins under discrete and flow-through analysis conditions. The immobilized bioluminescent cells made it possible to quantify the presence of Ochratoxin A, Sterigmatocystin, Zearalenone, and Deoxynivalenon in aqueous media in a wide range of their concentrations (0.017&ndash, 56 mg/L, 0.010&ndash, 33 mg/L, 0.009&ndash, 14 mg/L, and 0.026&ndash, 177 mg/L, respectively) via measuring the quenching of cell luminescence. The flow conditions allowed the analysis sensitivity to be improved by an order of magnitude in terms of detected concentrations. Using the immobilized luminescent bacterial cells, we have shown the possibility of evaluating the efficiency of the mycotoxins&rsquo, hydrolysis under the action of enzymes. In this way, a 94 &plusmn, 4.5% efficiency of Zearalenone hydrolysis with hexahistidine-containing organophosphorus hydrolase for 1h-long treatment of the mycotoxin solution (100 mg/L) was shown.

This study presented a HPTLC platformed luminescent biosensor system for screening captan residue. First, the potential bio-effects of layers materials on the detectability of a luminescent bacteria Photobacterium phosphoreum (ATCC 11040) as the sensor cell were assessed. From comparison, it was noteworthy that the combination of sensor cells with normal silica gel layer exclusively gave outstanding detectability (10 ng/zone). On this basis, HPTLC mediated separation and biosensing was further optimized. Then, the obtained graphic results were digitally quantified via software processing, offering satisfactory selectivity, linearity (R

Environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs) are detected in the clay, mineral or humic part of the soil, especially in soil contaminated with phenolic compounds. To clarify the detailed information on the formation of EPFRs, we used the contaminated soil with catechol to mimic their formation process in laboratory scale and tested their biotoxicity with luminescent bacteria (Photobacterium phosphoreum, P. phosphoreum). Our results showed that the concentration of EPFRs reached the maximum at pyrolysis temperature of 300 °C, and EPFRs could significantly inhibit the luminescence of P. phosphoreum. Based on the detection of OH radicals in the aquatic system we used, we speculated that the generation of OH may be a crucial contributor to the toxicity of EPFRs. Our results aid to understand the detailed process on the formation of EPFRs in contaminated soil, as well as the basic biotoxicity data of EPFRs, which will be helpful and essential for their potential environmental risk assessments.

Predicting the crucial effect of single metal pollutants against the aquatic ecosystem has been highly debatable for decades. However, dealing with complex metal mixtures management in toxicological studies creates a challenge, as heavy metals may evoke greater toxicity on interactions with other constituents rather than individually low acting concentrations. Moreover, the toxicity mechanisms are different between short term and long term exposure of the metal toxicant. In this study, acute and chronic toxicity based on luminescence inhibition assay using newly isolated Photobacterium sp.NAA-MIE as the indicator are presented. Photobacterium sp.NAA-MIE was exposed to the mixture at a predetermined ratio of 1:1. TU (Toxicity Unit) and MTI (Mixture Toxic Index) approach presented the mixture toxicity of Hg2+ + Ag+, Hg2+ + Cu2+, Ag+ + Cu2+, Hg2+ + Ag+ + Cu2+, and Cd2+ + Cu2+ showed antagonistic effect over acute and chronic test. Binary mixture of Cu2+ + Zn2+ was observed to show additive effect at acute test and antagonistic effect at chronic test while mixture of Ni2+ + Zn2+ showing antagonistic effect during acute test and synergistic effect during chronic test. Thus, the strain is suitable and their use as bioassay to predict the risk assessment of heavy metal under acute toxicity without abandoning the advantage of chronic toxicity extrapolation.

Bioremediation using microorganisms is a promising technique to remediate soil contaminated with heavy metals. In this study, Sporosarcina pasteurii (S. pasteurii) bioremediation by mixing method was used to remediate soils contaminated with lead (Pb), zinc (Zn) and cadmium (Cd). A significant reduction of heavy metal leaching concentrations was observed in S. pasteurii bio-treated samples. Furthermore, urease hydrolyzing bacteria have additional advantages of accelerating metal precipitation by increasing pH. The soluble-exchangeable Pb, Zn and Cd was reduced by 33.3 % ∼ 85.9 %, 21.4 % ∼ 66.0 %, 13.6 % ∼ 29.9 % respectively after bioremediation. The primary objective of metal stabilization was achieved by reducing the bioavailability through immobilizing the Pb, Zn and Cd in the urease-driven carbonate precipitation. Luminescent bacteria toxicity experiments revealed that the metal toxicity of contaminated soil was reduced after bioremediation using S. pasteurii. When subjected to severe environmental conditions, S. pasteurii bioremediation was superior to chemical precipitation technology in terms of long-term stability.

Today, nanomaterials have significant potential for practical application in a variety of research areas, in industrial production, the agrarian sector and in everyday life. Nanomaterials have received considerable attention due to the complex of their special properties, including taking into account the large specific surface area and high biological activity [1, р. 97-114; 2 р. 5728-5743]. In connection with the rapid development of nanotechnologies, nanomaterials of various shapes and diameters were obtained, which were then used in the production of products and products [3, р. 2064-2110; 4, р. 1504-1534]. On the one hand, skilled application of nanoparticles opens up new opportunities in many areas of human activity, and on the other hand due to its small size and the ability to penetrate through tissues can cause toxic effects in relation to living organisms. Therefore, scientific research must be aimed at studying the influence of nanomaterials on biological objects of different levels of organization, in particular on the analysis of the state of subcellular, cellular, organ levels and the whole organism [5, p. 51-56]. The aim was to investigate the effect of nanocomposites and their component nanosized SiO 2 on different types of microorganisms. Materials and methods. Influence of nanomaterials was studied using beer yeast, bioluminescent bacteria and associative culture of aerobic bacteria. Nanomaterials were provided by the Research Institute of Molecular Technologies in Milan, Italy. An associative culture was used ( Pseudomonas pseudo alcaligenes 102 , Bacillus subtilis 138 , Stenotrophomonas maltophilia 5246 UKM) from the collection of the Institute of Microbiology and Virology. D.K. Zabolotnoy National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The associative culture in the ratio 1: 1: 1 was cultivated on a nutrient medium (Himedia, India) during the day. After incubation, the suspension was applied to an agarified nutrient medium. In the center of the Petri dish, with a lawn crop, the agar blocks (hungry 4% agar with concentrations of nanomaterials) were sterilized. The culture was incubated for 2 days at a temperature of 28 0 C and the analysis was performed taking into account the fact and size of the growth retardation of the colonies (mm) [6, р. 273]. The biological effects of the NPs and NC were studied in form colloidal water mixtures obtained in appropriate volumes of 3% of sodium chloride. Three strains of luminescent bacteria ( V. fischeri F1, P. leiognathi Sh1) from collection of Crimean State Medical University (Simferopol, Ukraine) To determine the acute (toxicity) of samples, in blisters of a luminometer BLM 8801, a mixture of 0.8-0.9 ml of the test solution in a 2.5-3% solution of NaCl, 100 μl of a buffer solution with pH = 7.0 (phosphate) and 50 μl of bacterial suspension. The change in the intensity of the bioluminescence was recorded for 30-120 minutes using a recorder (LKB Bromma, Sweden). The analyzes were carried out at a temperature of 28-30 ° C. The biological effect of the samples was evaluated qualitatively by the nature of the graphic dependences of the intensity of the bioluminescence on the sample concentration. The presence of pronounced concentration inhibition of bioluminescence, reduction of bioluminescence to 50% and lower were treated as toxic [7, р. 93-97]. To study the influence of nanomaterials on beer yeast, they took a pure culture of Saccaromyces cerevisiae strain U-517 from the collection of the Institute of Microbiology and Virology. D.K. Zabolotny. Cultivated on a medium of YPD (yeast extract - 1%, peptone - 2%, glucose / dextrose - 2%, agar - 2.5%) during the day at 28 0 C. The daily subplanted culture at a concentration of 105 cells / ml in 25 ml of YPD medium with certain concentrations of nanomaterials: 150 mg / L, 300 mg / L, 450 mg / L, 600 mg / l and incubated for 1 day. Cultivate the day statically in falcons of 50 ml. The number of cells was calculated by the method of counting in the camera Goryaevа. Cell counting occurred in a heterogeneous population of Saccaromyces cerevisiae in a stationary phase of growth. MTT test was performed as follows. After daily processing with nanomaterials, 100 μl of yeast culture was incubated in the presence of 20 μl of 5 mg / ml MTT for 3.5 hours at 37 ° C in a 96-well plate in three replicates. After incubation, the culture medium was removed and the formazan crystals were dissolved in 150 μl DMSO. Incubated in the presence of DMSO in dark 15 minutes and measured the performance of the optical density (CO) formazan at a wavelength of 620 nm with a Multiskan FC device with version 1.00.94 and serial number 357-902509 [8, р. 383-393]. Research results. Having studied the influence of nanomaterials on the associative culture of aerobic bacteria, no toxic effects were found. The results of the experiment indicate the absence of antibacterial action of newly synthesized nanocomposites based on saponites on aerobic soil bacteria. For the action of nanosized SiO 2 material at a concentration of 600 mg / l around the agar block, there was no significant growth retardation of the colonies of aerobic bacteria. Thus it can be argued that the antibacterial activity of this material is weak in the associative culture of soil bacteria at a concentration of 600 mg / l. In the study of the acute effects of nanomaterials on bioluminescent bacteria, in 10 and 30 minutes, the newly synthesized nanocosities did not exhibit inhibitory activity, depending on the time and concentrations. The study of acute toxicity of samples showed that SiO 2 nanomaterial suppressed bacterial bioluminescence. During the 10-minute incubation of bacteria in solutions of nanomaterials 150 mg / l, 300 mg / l, 450 mg / l and 600 mg / l, the intensity of the luminescence of bacteria decreased by 18.5%, 54.5%, 61.5% and 59 , 5% respectively. During the 30-minute incubation, the light concentrations decreased by 20.61%, 56.2%, 61.3%, 62.5%, respectively. Accordingly, one can conclude that the inhibitory effect of the nanomaterial depends on the concentrations, and by increasing the incubation time, the change in the inhibitory effect was not significant. Accordingly, the curvature of the bioluminescence of bacteria V. Fischeri , similarly to the previous results, was not detected in the bacteria Р. leiognathi , the inhibitory effect of nanocomposites on the basis of saponites. The nanosized SiO 2 material reduced the intensity of the glow of bacteria. Thus, with a 10-minute incubation in solutions of nanomaterials of 150 mg / l, 300 mg / l, 450 mg / l and 600 mg / l, the intensity of bioluminescence decreased by 13.3%, 35.2%, 41.4% and 42.3%. During incubation for 30 minutes the indices did not change significantly. Having studied the influence of nanomaterials on bacteria, the next step was to investigate the effect of nanomaterials on the growth of yeast cells. It has been established that under the influence of saponite-based nb-containing nanocomposites, the number of S. cerevisiae cells is significantly increased. The nanosized SiO 2 material in the range of 450-600 mg / L showed an inhibitory effect, the number of cells in the samples at concentrations of 450 mg / l and 600 mg / l was 1.96 ∙ 10 8 cells / ml and 1.87 ∙ 10 8 cells / ml, respectively , whereas in the control the given index was 2.06 ∙ 10 8 кл / ml. S. cerevisiae cells are susceptible to the effect of nanomaterials on them. To confirm the preliminary results and obtain more detailed information on the influence of nanomaterials on the intensity of biochemical processes in cells, an MTT test was performed. According to the MTT test, the most pronounced effect compared with the control was found for nanocomposites Nb-Saponite (Cl) and Nb-Saponite (Et) at concentrations of 300-600 mg / l. On average, for optical nanocomposites, the optical density was 0.547 y.o. and 0.645 y.o., while in control it was 0.32 y.o. As in previous experiments on counting the number of cells, we obtain the reproducibility of the results in determining the cytotoxicity of niobium-containing nanocomposites. The growth of optical density speaks of the properties of nanocomposites, in relation to the activation of biochemical processes in cells of S. cerevisiae . Nanomaterial SiO 2 did not exhibit cytotoxic action against S. cerevisiae cells. An insignificant decrease in this indicator for the effects of SiO 2 was observed at concentrations of 450 mg / l and 600 mg / l, it decreased by 9.37% and 12.5% respectively, compared with the control. Conclusion. The influence of Nb-containing nanocomposites based on saponites and their component - nanosized SiO 2 is studied in this work. It was noted that nanocomposites did not exhibit a toxic effect in the concentration range of 150-600 mg / l in relation to bioluminescent, aerobic bacteria and S. cerevisiae . For the action of nanosized SiO 2 , an inhibitory effect was observed to the listed microorganisms. Such results can be justified by the fact that the nanosize SiO 2 material caused inhibition of the parameters, since it is about 20 nm in size so the nanomaterial can penetrate the cell wall of microorganisms and cause a negative effect. In composite materials, SiO 2 during synthesis was agglomerated into large structures, ranging in size from 40-100 nm, thus losing its toxic properties. Keywords: nanomaterials, microorganisms, bacteria, brewer's yeast, nanocomposites

Explosive-contaminated soil is harmful to people’s health and the local ecosystem. The acute toxicity of its extracting solution was tested by bacterial luminescence assay using three kinds of luminescent bacteria to characterize the toxicity of the soil. An orthogonal test L 16 (45) was designed to optimize the soil extracting conditions. The optimum extracting conditions were obtained when the ultrasonic extraction time, ultrasonic extraction temperature, and the extraction repeat times were 6 h, 40 °C, and three, respectively. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) results showed that the main components of the contaminated soil’s extracting solution were 2,4-dinitrotoluene-3-sulfonate (2,4-DNT-3-SO3 −); 2,4-dinitrotoluene-5-sulfonate (2,4-DNT-5-SO3 −); and 2,6-dinitrotoluene (2,6-DNT). Compared with Photobacterium phosphoreum and Vibrio fischeri, Vibrio qinghaiensis sp. Nov. is more suitable for assessing the soil extracting solution’s acute toxicity. Soil washing can remove most of the contaminants toxic to luminescent bacterium Vibrio qinghaiensis sp. Nov., suggesting that it may be a potential effective remediation method for explosive-contaminated soil.

Three distinct textile samples were investigated for color and toxicity (S1–chemical/textile industry; S2–final textile effluent; S3 - standard textile produced effluent–untreated blue). Radiation processing of these samples were carried out at Dynamitron Electron Beam Accelerator and color and toxicity removal were determined: color removal by radiation was 96% (40 kGy, S1); 55% (2.5 kGy, S2) and 90% (2.5 kGy, S3). Concerning toxicity assays, Vibrio fischeri luminescent bacteria demonstrated higher reduction after radiation than the other systems: removal efficiencies were 33% (20 kGy, S1); 55% (2.5 kGy, S2) and 33% (2.5 kGy, S3). Daphnia similis and Brachionus plicatilis fitted well for S3 effluents. Hard toxic volumes into biological treatment plant may be avoided if radiation would be previously applied in a real plant. Results reveled how indispensable is to run toxicity to more than one living-organism.

Текст статьи не публикуется в открытом доступе в соответствии с политикой журнала. This study assesses the comparative sensitivity and possibility of obtaining fast results of various methods of biotesting for several surfactants: Tween 85, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), Fairy dishwashing gel, and Mif washing powder. The following test organisms are used for the study: luminescent bacteria Photobacterium phosphoreum (Beijerinck), preparation of Ecolum luminescent bacteria, unicellular algae Scenedesmus quadricauda (G.M. Smith), infusorian Paramecium caudatum (Ehrenberg), and crustacean Daphnia magna (Straus). It has been revealed that Fairy dishwashing gel possesses the strongest toxicity against the studied test objects. Daphnia and algae are most sensitive to the effects of Fairy and SDS, protozoan and luminescent bacteria are most sensitive to SDS, and Ecolum is most sensitive to Mif washing powder. The tested aquatic organisms and Ecolum are most tolerant to the effect of Tween 85.

Vibrio fischeri bioluminescence inhibition has been widely used to test acute toxicities of metals and organics contaminants. However, the differences of metals and organics acute toxicities to V. fischeri have not been compared. Here, four heavy metals (Zn2+, Cu2+, Cd2+, Cr6+) and five organics (phenol, benzoic acid, p-hydroxy benzoic acid, nitro-benzene and benzene) acute toxicities to V. fischeri were investigated. Heavy metals toxicities to V. fischeri were increased along with the reaction time, while the organics toxicities kept the same level in different reaction times. In order to explain the difference, the relative cell death rate of V. fischeri was detected. In metals toxicities tests, the bioluminescence inhibition rate of V. fischeri was found to be significantly higher than the relative cell death rate (P

The current study depicts the isolation of luminescent bacteria from fish and squid samples that were collected from Veraval fish harbour. From Indian mackerel, total 14 and from squid, total 23 bioluminescent bacteria were isolated using luminescence agar medium. Two bioluminescent bacteria with highest relative luminescence intensity PBR1 and PBL1 were selected. These two isolates were subjected to detailed biochemical characterization and were tested positive for 5 out of 13 biochemical tests. Furthermore, both PBR1 and PBL1 were able to ferment cellobiose, dextrose, fructose, galactose, maltose, mannose, sucrose and trehalose with acid production. Based on 16S rRNA partial gene sequence analysis, PBR1 was identified as Vibrio alginolyticus and PBL1 as V. rotiferianus. Antibiotic susceptibility test using paper-disc method showed that PBR1 and PBL1 were sensitive to chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, co-trimoxazole, gatifloxacin, levofloxacin, linezolid ad roxithromycin out of 18 antibiotics tested. Moreover, both strains were evaluated for their exopolysachharide (EPS) producing ability where PBR1 and PBL1 were able to yield 1.34 g% (w/v) and 2.45 g% (w/v) EPS respectively from 5 g% (v/v) sucrose concentration. Heavy metal toxicity assessment was carried out using agar well diffusion method with eight heavy metals and both the strains were sensitive to As(III), Cd(II), Ce(II), Cr(III), Cu(II), Hg(II) and while they showed resistance to Pb(II) and Sr(II). Based on these results, a study was conducted to demonstrate bio-removal of Pb and Sr by EPS of PBR1 and PBL1. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra revealed the functional groups of EPS involved in interaction with the heavy metals. Owing to the sensitivity for the remaining heavy metals, these bioluminescent bacteria can be used further for the development of luminescence-based biosensor.

The possibility of using coffee silverskin, an industrial waste from the coffee roasting process, as an antifungal feedstock in wood preservative formulations was investigated. Silverskin hot water extract and its antifungal properties in vitro against Rhodonia (Poria) placenta, Gloeophyllum trabeum, and Trametes versicolor were characterized, and its in vitro effects on wood decay caused by Coniophora puteana were analyzed. A kinetic luminescent bacteria test was performed using Aliivibrio fischeri to measure the acute ecotoxicity of the silverskin extracts. The antifungal test showed 60–70% growth inhibition of the studied fungi at higher concentrations—3%—but did not meet the high inhibition—100%—of the commercial wood preservative. The phenolic compounds, such as chlorogenic acid and its derivatives, and caffeine derivatives, were the main constituents of the silverskin extracts and considered the responsible compounds of the fungal inhibition. The silverskin extracts were significantly less toxic than the commercial copper-based wood preservative. Revalorization of silverskin from industrial residues does not perform as a wood preservative but it remains a potential source of antifungal chemicals for wood preservative formulations.

Here, we present a study of luminescent intestinal microflora of the fish inhabiting Bering and Okhotsk seas in summer and winter seasons. Sampling of intestinal luminescent microflora was carried for several years, with all recovered species belonging to psychrophilic bacteria of either Aliivibrio logei or Photobacterium phosphoreum species. A seasonal change in fish intestinal luminescent microflora detected include an increase in prevalence of P. phosphoreum bacteria in summer and an increase in prevalence of A. logei bacteria in winter seasons. In fact, 90% of all luminescent bacteria isolated in winter period (January-March) were A. logei, while 88% of luminescent isolates recovered in summer period (July-September) were that of P. phosphoreum species. Seasonal changes were similar across all six sampling expeditions, three in winter and three in summer seasons, evenly spread through 2010-2018 period.

Chlorination is essential to provide safe drinking water. However, this process leads to the formation of disinfection byproducts (DBPs). In this study, tryptophan (Trp) has been selected as a precursor to conduct the chlorine disinfection. Moreover, the factors that affect the formation of trihalomethanes (THMs) and iodinated trihalomethanes (I-THMs) are investigated. The formation pathway of Trp chlorination is proposed based on the intermediate products identified. According to the experimental results, the formation of THMs and I-THMs during Trp chlorination fitted a new first-order kinetic model. The dosage of chlorine, temperature, pH and the ratio of bromide and iodide had major influence on the formation of THMs and I-THMs during chlorination. In addition, the inhibition of luminescent bacteria Vibrio fischeri in the water sample increased during Trp chlorination.

Ultraviolet (UV) photodegradation is increasingly applied to control volatile organic compounds (VOCs) due to its degradation capabilities for recalcitrant compounds. However, sometimes the UV photodegradation products are also toxic and can affect human health. Here, 10 VOCs at 150~200 ppm in air were treated using a laboratory-scale UV reactor with 185/254 nm irradiation, and the biotoxicity of their off-gas was studied by investigating their off-gas absorption solutions. The CO2 increase and VOC decrease were 39~128 ppm and 0~42 ppm, respectively, indicating that the VOCs and their products were mineralized in off-gas absorption solutions. The total organic carbon (TOC) of the absorption solutions are 4~20 mg∙L&minus, 1. Luminescent bacteria and Daphnia magna were used to detect the acute toxicity, and an umu assay was used to determine the genotoxic potential. Trichloroethylene showed a highest toxicity to luminescent bacteria, while chlorobenzene had the lowest toxicity. Water-soluble UV photodegradation products for styrene are very toxic to Daphnia magna. In the umu assay, the genotoxicities of off-gas absorption solutions of trichloroethylene, methylbenzene, ethyl acetate, butyl alcohol, and styrene were 51.26, 77.80, 86.89, 97.20, and 273.62 mg (4-NQO)&middot, L&minus, 1 respectively. In addition, the analysis of the genotoxicity/TOC and intermediates products indicated that the off-gas absorption solutions of styrene, trichloroethylene, and butyl alcohol contain many highly toxic substances.

In 2013, the “Qingdao oil pipeline explosion” released an estimated 2000 tons of oil into the environment. Sediment samples were collected from ten sites in Jiaozhou Bay and Shilaoren Beach to evaluate the influence of the spilled oil on the benthic environment 3 years after the oil spill accident. The compositions of oil, bacterial diversity and biotoxicity were examined in this study. The results showed that the concentration of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPHs) peaked near the oil leak point and gradually decreased along the coastline, ranging from 21.5 to 133.2 μg/g. The distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was correlated with TPH, and naphthalenes were dominant in the 20 detected PAHs. The bacterial diversities in seriously polluted and slightly polluted sediments were completely different. As degrading bacteria, Alcanivorax and Lutibacter were the main genera at the oil-polluted sites. The analysis of biotoxicity by the luminescent bacteria method showed great differences among the polluted sites, the control site in Jiaozhou Bay, and the non-polluted site outside of Jiaozhou Bay. The biotoxicity also peaked at the site near the oil leak point. These results indicate that the oil spill that occurred 3 years ago still affects the environment and impacts the bacterial communities in the sediments. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13568-018-0603-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Biotic ligand model (BLM) was extended to predict the toxicity of inorganic arsenate (iAs(V)) to the luminescent bacteria, Aliivibrio fischeri. As the pH increased from 5 to 9, the HAsO42- form predominated more than the H2AsO4- form did, and the EC50[As]T (50% effective iAs(V) concentration) decreased drastically from 3554 ± 393 to 39 ± 6 μM; thus, the HAsO42- form was more toxic to A. fischeri than H2AsO4-. As the HPO42- activity increased from 0 to 0.44 mM, the EC50{HAsO42-} values (50% effective HAsO42- activity) increased from 31 ± 6 to 859 ± 128 μM, indicating that the toxicity of iAs(V) decreased, owing to the competition caused by the structural similarity between iAs(V) and phosphate ions. However, activities of Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, SO42-, NO3-, and HCO3- did not significantly affect the EC50{HAsO42-} values. The BLM was reconstructed to take into account the effects of pH and phosphate, and the conditional binding constants for H2PO4-, HPO42-, H2AsO4-, and HAsO42- to the active binding sites of A. fischeri were obtained; 3.424 for logKXH2PO4, 4.588 for logKXHPO4, 3.067 for logKXH2AsO4, and 4.802 for logKXHAsO4. The fraction of active binding sites occupied by iAs(V) to induce 50% toxicity (fmix50%) was found to be 0.616.

A novel tool, the DAMTA analyzer (Device for Analytical Monitoring and Toxicity Assessment), designed for fully automated toxicity measurements based on luminescent bacteria as well as for concomitant determination of chemical parameters, was developed and field-tested. The instrument is a robotic water analyzer equipped with a luminometer and a spectrophotometer, integrated on a thermostated reaction plate which contains a movable carousel with 80 cuvettes. Acute toxicity is measured on-line using a wild type Photobacterium phosphoreum strain with measurable bioluminescence and unaltered sensitivity to toxicants lasting up to ten days. The EC50 values of reference compounds tested were consistent with A. fischeri and P. phosphoreum international standards and comparable to previously published data. Concurrently, a laboratory trial demonstrated the feasibility of use of the analyzer for the determination of nutrients and metals in parallel to the toxicity measurements. In a prolonged test, the system was installed only in toxicity mode at the premises of the World Fair “Expo Milano-2015″, a high security site to ensure the quality of the supplied drinking water. The monitoring program lasted for six months during which ca. 2400 toxicity tests were carried out; the results indicated a mean non-toxic outcome of −5.5 ± 6.2%. In order to warrant the system's robustness in detecting toxic substances, Zn was measured daily with highly reproducible inhibition results, 70.8 ± 13.6%. These results assure that this novel toxicity monitor can be used as an early warning system for protection of drinking water sources from emergencies involving low probability/high impact contamination events in source water or treated water.

In this work, PM10 samples previously subjected to thorough chemical speciation and receptor modelling, have been investigated for their bio-toxicity using an inhibition test based on bacterial luminescence modulation when in contact with airborne particulate samples. The variation of light emission intensity from a luminescent bacteria strain, the Photobacterium phosphoreum, is proposed as an efficient proxy for the quantification of bio-toxic effects induced by airborne particulate matter. PM10 samples characterized by definite levels of pollutants from the pertaining air shed were found to induce a decrease in the bacterial bioluminescence intensity, expressed as percentage of Inhibition Ratio (IR%). This behaviour suggests the decay of this energy-consuming activity because of a toxic effect. Cluster analysis on chemical composition and IR% data provides evidence of a statistically significant association between the adverse effects on living cells and the range of specific chemical species in PM10.

Mercury and its organic compounds have been of severe concern worldwide due to their damage to the ecosystem and human health. The development of effective and affordable technology to monitor and signal the presence of bioavailable mercury is an urgent need. The Mer gene is a mercury-responsive resistant gene, and a mercury-sensing recombinant luminescent bacterium using the Mer gene was constructed in this study. The mer operon from marine Pseudomonas putida strain SP1 was amplified and fused with prompterless luxCDABE in the pUCD615 plasmid within Escherichia coli cells, resulting in pTHE30-E. coli. The recombinant strain showed high sensitivity and specificity. The detection limit of Hg(2+) was 5nmol/L, and distinct luminescence could be detected in 30min. Cd(2+), Cu(2+), Zn(2+), Ca(2+), Pb(2+), Mg(2+), Mn(2+), and Al(3+) did not interfere with the detection over a range of 10(-5)-1mM. Application of recombinant luminescent bacteria testing in environmental samples has been a controversial issue: especially for metal-sensing recombinant strains, false negatives caused by high cytotoxicity are one of the most important issues when applying recombinant luminescent bacteria in biomonitoring of heavy metals. In this study, by establishing an internal standard approach, the false negative problem was overcome; furthermore, the method can also help to estimate the suspected mercury concentration, which ensures high detection sensitivity of bioavailable Hg(2+).

One of the major problems of airport operation is the impact of pollution caused by runoff waters. Runoff waters at an airport may contain high concentrations of different contaminants resulting from various activities of its operation. High quantities of aircraft de-icing/anti-icing fluids are used annually at airports worldwide. Aircraft de-icers and anti-icers may have negative environmental impacts, but their effects on aquatic organisms are virtually unknown. In order to address this issue, aircraft de-icers, pavement de-icers and wastewater samples were obtained from a regional airport. To evaluate the toxicity of wastewater samples and aircraft de-icing/anti-icing fluids (ADAFs), two bio-tests were performed: the Lemna growth inhibition test according to OECD guideline 221 and the luminescent bacteria test according to ISO guideline 11348-2. In the Lemna growth inhibition test, phytotoxicity was assessed using the endpoints frond number and frond area. The luminescent bacteria test involved the marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri. The estimates of effective concentrations (EC50) values were determined using the free software R and the "drc" library. Aquatic plants and marine bacteria showed a higher sensitivity towards ADAFs than to wastewater samples. Experiments showed that aircraft de-icing/anti-icing fluids and wastewater samples were relatively more toxic towards Lemna gibba L. in comparison to V. fischeri.

The components of petrochemical wastewater (PCWW) are very complex and it is one of the most important sources of organic micropollutants (OMPs) in water bodies. To improve the effluent qualities of PCWW, the Chinese government has promulgated a new Emission Standard of Pollutants for Petroleum Chemistry Industry. More than 60 types of OMPs, most of which are toxic organics, are added and strictly limited in the standard. Based on the bench- and pilot-scale experiments, a pretreatment (microaerobic hydrolysis and acidification, MOHA), biological (anoxic/oxic process, A/O) and advanced treatment (micro-flocculation dynasand filtration and catalytic ozonation, MFDF-CO) integrated process is proposed. The full-scale application in the Chinese biggest petrochemical wastewater treatment plant has demonstrated that the performance of the integrated process is stable and it can significantly improve the effluent qualities. The effluent COD decreased from 84.7 to 47.0mg/L and most of the OMPs were removed. The EC50 of the effluent for luminescent bacteria assay, algal growth inhibition, Daphnia magna inhibition test and zebrafish eggs test are all higher than 100% and the induction rate (IR) for genotoxicity is only 0.76. The energy demand, however, with the electricity consumption increase by 44.1%, is very high for OMPs removal, leading to high indirect carbon emission.

Surface water used for drinking water production is frequently monitored in The Netherlands using whole organism biomonitors, with for example Daphnia magna or Dreissena mussels, which respond to changes in the water quality. However, not all human-relevant toxic compounds can be detected by these biomonitors. Therefore, a new on-line biosensor has been developed, containing immobilized genetically modified bacteria, which respond to genotoxicity in the water by emitting luminescence. The performance of this sensor was tested under laboratory conditions, as well as under field conditions at a monitoring station along the river Meuse in The Netherlands. The sensor was robust and easy to clean, with inert materials, temperature control and nutrient feed for the reporter organisms. The bacteria were immobilized in sol-gel on either an optical fiber or a glass slide and then continuously exposed to water. Since the glass slide was more sensitive and robust, only this setup was used in the field. The sensor responded to spikes of genotoxic compounds in the water with a minimal detectable concentration of 0.01 mg/L mitomycin C in the laboratory and 0.1 mg/L mitomycin C in the field. With further optimization, which should include a reduction in daily maintenance, the sensor has the potential to become a useful addition to the currently available biomonitors.

The increasing application of nanoparticles (NPs) to a variety of new technologies has become a matter ofconcern due to the potential toxicity of these materials. Many questions about the fate of NPs in the environmentand the subsequent impact on ecosystems need to be answered. The aim of this work was to evaluate theecotoxicity of two alumina-based nanoceramics, γ-Al2O3 (NC) and Ni/ γ-Al2O3 (NiNC) by means of three differentstandardized tests: Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5), bioassay with luminescent bacteria (Vibrio fischeri;Microtox), and bioassay on amphibian larvae (Rhinella arenarum) (AMPHITOX). BOD5 values of a verybiodegradable mixture (glucose/glutamic acid) decreased with the addition of NiNC(43.8%) and NC (31.6%)with respect to control samples (52.9%). Microtox test results indicated that NiNC presents higher toxicity thanNC, with EC50s values of 16.1% and 29.9% respectively; a reduced toxicity was observed, however, in presenceof organic matter, thus obtaining EC50s of 37.8% and 19.4%. The results of AMPHITOX test showed a significantincrease in the toxicity of both substances over time, the NiNC toxicity being greater than that of NC. The valuesof 96 h-LC50 and 504 h-LC50 determined for NiNC were 1.58 and 0.83 mg/L, respectively, and 14.5 and10.5 mg/L for NC samples. Amphibian larvae exhibited collapsed cavities, edema, axial flexures, and behavioralalterations as hyperkinesia and reduced movements. These results evidence the vulnerability of wildlife to xenobioticsand the need to develop specific standardized ecotoxicity tests in order to help environmental sustainabilityand natural species conservation. Fil: Svartz, Gabriela Veronica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigación e Ingeniería Ambiental; Argentina Fil: Papa, Mariana Inés. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial; Argentina Fil: Gosatti, Marina. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia Complejo Tecnológico Pilcaniyeu; Argentina Fil: Jordán, Marianela Paula. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial; Argentina Fil: Soldati, Analía Leticia. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia Complejo Tecnológico Pilcaniyeu; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Samter, Paula. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Industrial; Argentina Fil: Guraya, María M.. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia Complejo Tecnológico Pilcaniyeu; Argentina. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Perez Coll, Cristina Silvia. Universidad Nacional de San Martín. Instituto de Investigación e Ingeniería Ambiental; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Perez Catán, Soledad. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia Complejo Tecnológico Pilcaniyeu; Argentina

Since aminophosphonate-based herbicides like glyphosate are currently one of the most popular and widely applied active agent in agrochemistry, there is an urgent need for searching new compounds among this family with potential herbicidal activity, but exhibiting low toxicity against surrounding environment. Six new (5-nitrofurfuryl)-derived aminophosphonates were synthesized for the first time and apart from the only one example of N-benzylamino(5-nitrofuryl)-methylphosphonic acid, it was the first time in the history, when this class of compounds was prepared. Their prospective and real biological properties have been followed up by evaluation of their preliminary ecotoxicology. They have been then investigated in aspect of their phytotoxicity against oat (A. sativa) and common radish (R. sativus) exhibiting moderate-to-severe toxicity for these plants. The significant selectivity towards radish (up to 3 times greater toxicity against radish) was observed in some cases. Title compounds were also tested in terms of their toxicity for freshwater crustaceans H. incongruens (ostracods) and marine luminescent bacteria A. fischeri. Although their harmful action on ostracods was not too much elevated, they were found to be highly toxic for bacteria. Various aspects of their ecotoxicity are discussed in this paper.