Scientists from the Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Plants and Microorganisms of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Saratov) and Saratov National Research State University named after N. G. Chernyshevsky have developed a biosensor that allows you to quickly, accurately and cost-effectively determine the concentration of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in water.

This was reported to RT in the press service of the Russian Science Foundation.

The study was supported by a grant from the Foundation, the results of the work were published in the World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology.

The researchers took the bacterium Herbaspirillum lusitanum as the basis for the biosensor.

These microorganisms use SDS as the only source of carbon necessary for their life.

  • Gettyimages.ru

The bacterial cell membrane converts chemical and physical signals from the environment into electrical signals.

Using sensors, the scientists measured and compared these signals at the cell membrane at rest with those that occur when interacting with SDS.

It turned out that the addition of only 0.01 mg/l of sodium dodecyl sulfate to the culture medium reduced the strength of the electrical signal of the bacterial cell membrane by 14% compared to the initial value.

An increase in the concentration of the reagent increased this difference.

According to scientists, by measuring electrical signals in this way, it is possible to determine the amount of SDS in water.

“We have developed a biosensor based on bacterial cells that allows us to determine the content of SDS with an accuracy of 0.01 mg/l, which is significantly lower than the official requirements for the content of this substance in drinking water (0.5 mg/l) and technical (1.0 mg / l) water.

This suggests that the proposed system can be used for fast and high-precision monitoring of the state of reservoirs, ”said Natalya Velichko, project leader, candidate of biological sciences, an employee of the Institute of Biochemistry and Physiology of Plants and Microorganisms of the Russian Academy of Sciences, in a comment to RT.

Recall that sodium dodecyl sulfate is a highly active cleaning agent that is included in most washing powders, dishwashing liquids, shampoos and toothpastes.

With sewage, it enters the reservoirs.

Sodium dodecyl sulfate in significant concentrations adversely affects the environment.

And drinking water with a high content of SDS can lead to toxic poisoning of the body and serious diseases.

  • AGN "Moscow"

According to experts, the use of sodium dodecyl sulfate is growing.

There are many methods for monitoring the content of this substance in water, but they require expensive equipment and time.

The researchers believe that bacteria-based biosensors could be an alternative.

Scientists are going to continue their research in this direction in order to put into production a biosensor based on Herbaspirillum lusitanum bacteria in the future.

They also plan to develop new variants of biosensors for various pollutants based on other strains of microorganisms.