Monitoring of environmental pollutants by bioluminescent bacteria

This review deals with the applications of bioluminescent bacteria to the environmental analyses, published during the years 2000\u20132007. The ecotoxicological assessment, by bioassays, of the environmental risks and the luminescent approaches are reported. The review includes a brief introduction to the characteristics and applications of bioassays, a description of the characteristics and applications of natural bioluminescent bacteria (BLB), and a collection of the main applications to organic and inorganic pollutants. The light-emitting genetically modified bacteria applications, as well as the bioluminescent immobilized systems and biosensors are outlined. Considerations about commercially available BLB and BLB catalogues are also reported. Most of the environmental applications, here mentioned, of luminescent organisms are on wastewater, seawater, surface and ground water, tap water, soil and sediments, air. Comparison to other bioindicators and bioassay has been also made. Various tables have been inserted, to make easier to take a rapid glance at all possible references concerning the topic of specific interest

Bioremediation of contaminated samples by hydrocarbons degradating bacteria

In this study three different strains of Vibrio marine bioluminescent bacteria have been employed to follow the biotoxicity changes during the bioremediation, by hydrocarbons degrading bacteria, of soil and water contaminated samples with hydrocarbons and PCB, and collected from two different places: a mechanic company and oil terminals. The evaluation of inhibitory effects of samples on bacteria\u2019s light emission1 was performed before and during the bioremediation treatment: the oil terminal soils were treated and tested for almost four months