Open AccessConstruction of an extended range whole‐cell tetracycline biosensor by use of the tet (M) resistance gene
Author(s) -
Bahl Martin Iain,
Hansen Lars Hestbjerg,
Sørensen Søren J.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1016/j.femsle.2005.09.034
Subject(s) - tetracycline , minocycline , biosensor , escherichia coli , microbiology and biotechnology , chlortetracycline , oxytetracycline , flow cytometry , chemistry , plasmid , biology , gene , antibiotics , biochemistry
An extended range whole‐cell tetracycline biosensor strain was constructed by insertion of the tet (M) gene, encoding tetracycline resistance by ribosomal protection, into plasmid pTGFP2, which contains a transcriptional fusion between a tetracycline regulated promoter and the green fluorescent protein gene. Tetracycline, oxytetracycline, chlortetracycline and minocycline all effectively induced the resulting Escherichia coli MC4100/pTGM biosensor and similar dose–response characteristics were recorded by flow cytometry for all four compounds. The novel tetracycline biosensor was responsive to drug concentrations ranging from below 5 ng ml −1 to 16 μg ml −1 , which represents a significant improvement of the original version.