Portable E.coli Enabled Sensor Detects Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals

Highlights

• Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are found in pesticides, plastics and pharmaceuticals.
• EDCs are potentially harmful may induce the development of obesity, diabetes and cancer.
• Detecting EDCs can be tough because the classification is based on their disrupting hormone function instead of their structures.
Engineered E. coli bacteria can help detect Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) which are harmful.
EDCs have been implicated in the development of obesity, diabetes and cancer and are found in a wide array of products including pesticides, plastics and pharmaceuticals.


Scientific Principles for the Identification of Endocrine-Disrupting Substances
The criteria for identifying endocrine disrupting substances has been listed in a consensus paper published in a scientific journal.
‘The device uses E. coli cells expressing a protein receptor to rapidly detect the presence of many different endocrine disrupting compounds.’

Tweet it Now
EDCs are potentially harmful, even at low concentrations, equal in some cases to mere milligrams dissolved in in a swimming pool full of water. Now researchers report in ACS Central Science that they can quickly detect environmentally relevant concentrations of EDCs using engineered E. coli bacteria.

Detecting EDCs can be tough because the classification is based on their disrupting hormone function instead of their structures. Thus the term encompasses a broad spectrum of chemicals and often, health risks arise from aggregate exposure to several different species.

Many EDCs act on the same hormone receptors on a cell's surface and so researchers have been developing tests that detect the compounds based on their ability to interfere with hormones. But these methods currently take days to produce a result or involve many complicated and expensive steps. Matthew Francis and colleagues overcame these challenges by using E. coli in their device.


Animal Testing Methods for Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Should Change
Challenging risk assessment methods used for decades by toxicologists, a new review of the literature suggests that oral gavage, the most widely accepted method of dosing lab animals to test chemical toxicity, does not accurately mimic how humans are exposed to chemicals in everyday life.
Non-toxic, dead E. coli cells display an estrogen receptor on the surface of the researchers' portable sensor. A protein on the sensor surface recognizes the EDC-E. coli complex, producing an electronic read-out in minutes.

The inexpensive device can determine the concentration of many known EDCs individually and overall concentrations as mixtures. They tested the detection in water and in complex solutions like baby formula. It also can detect EDCs released into liquid from a plastic baby bottle following microwave heating.


Advertisement
Might of the Microbes
Did u ever think that bacteria are capable of speaking their mind? Well, it appears that they certainly do!
The team notes that their test is suitable for use in the field and can be modified to test for other types of chemicals that act on human receptors.

Reference

1. Matthew Francis, Using E. coli to detect hormone disruptors in the environment, ACS Central Science (2017).



Advertisement
E.coli Can Cause Colon Cancer
University of Liverpool researchers accuse a type of E.coli of promoting colon cancer. The pks gene found in these E.coli is believed to be the culprit.
Source-Medindia