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A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Biosensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2022) | Viewed by 18217

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Dr. Josef Trögl

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Environment, Faculty of Environment, Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, Czechia
Interests: Bioreporters; biodegradation; bioremediation; soil microbial communities; soil organic matter; soil pollution
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Special Issue Information

Soils are the fundament of terrestrial ecosystems, providing essential ecosystem services. Soil damage has gradually been increasing due to anthropogenic activities and increased soil use. Loss of soil carbon, soil pollution, and erosion are global problems.

This Special Issue aims to present innovative research focused on monitoring soil parameters using microbial biosensors or bioassays. This can include, but is not limited to, standard agrochemical parameters, biological parameters, as well as soil damage or pollution indicators. Laboratory studies as well as development of portable methods for in situ use are welcome. Of special interests are studies comparing standard analytical methods with bioanalytical processes. The methods should use living or dead microorganisms including genetically engineered organisms (bioreporters). Research papers, opinion papers, as well as critical reviews related to field are welcome.

Dr. Josef Trögl
Guest Editor

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Keywords

Soil quality
Soil pollution
Soil biosensors
Soil bioassays
Bioreporters
Soil microbial communities

Published Papers (5 papers)

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18 pages, 2407 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Estimation of Hg(II) in Soil Samples by Bioluminescent Bacterial Bioreporter E. coli ARL1, and the Effect of Humic Acids and Metal Ions on the Biosensor Performance

by Irena Brányiková, Simona Lucáková, Gabriela Kuncová, Josef Trögl, Václav Synek, Jan Rohovec and Tomáš Navrátil

Sensors 2020, 20(11), 3138; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20113138 - 02 Jun 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3169

Abstract

Mercury is a ubiquitous environmental pollutant of dominantly anthropogenic origin. A critical concern for human health is the introduction of mercury to the food chain; therefore, monitoring of mercury levels in agricultural soil is essential. Unfortunately, the total mercury content is not sufficiently informative as mercury can be present in different forms with variable bioavailability. Since 1990, the use of bioreporters has been investigated for assessment of the bioavailability of pollutants; however, real contaminated soils have rarely been used in these studies. In this work, a bioassay with whole-cell bacterial bioreporter Escherichia coli ARL1 was used for estimation of bioavailable concentration of mercury in 11 soil samples. The bioreporter emits bioluminescence in the presence of Hg(II). Four different pretreatments of soil samples prior to the bioassay were tested. Among them, laccase mediated extraction was found to be the most suitable over water extraction, alkaline extraction, and direct use of water-soil suspensions. Nevertheless, effect of the matrix on bioreporter signal was found to be severe and not possible to be completely eliminated by the method of standard addition. In order to elucidate the matrix role, influences of humic acid and selected metal ions present in soil on the bioreporter signal were tested separately in laboratory solutions. Humic acids were found to have a positive effect on the bioreporter growth, but a negative effect on the measured bioluminescence, likely due to shading and Hg binding resulting in decreased bioavailability. Each of the tested metal ions solutions affected the bioluminescence signal differently; cobalt (II) positively, iron (III) negatively, and the effects of iron (II) and nickel (II) were dependent on their concentrations. In conclusion, the information on bioavailable mercury estimated by bioreporter E. coli ARL1 is valuable, but the results must be interpreted with caution. The route to functional bioavailability bioassay remains long. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Biosensors for Soil Monitoring)

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17 pages, 4333 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Hyperspectral Inversion of Soil Organic Matter Content Based on a Combined Spectral Index Model

by Lifei Wei, Ziran Yuan, Zhengxiang Wang, Liya Zhao, Yangxi Zhang, Xianyou Lu and Liqin Cao

Sensors 2020, 20(10), 2777; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20102777 - 13 May 2020

Cited by 37 | Viewed by 3702

Abstract

Soil organic matter (SOM) refers to all carbon-containing organic matter in soil and is one of the most important indicators of soil fertility. The hyperspectral inversion analysis of SOM traditionally relies on laboratory chemical testing methods, which have the disadvantages of being inefficient and time-consuming. In this study, 69 soil samples were collected from the Honghu farmland area and a mining area in northwest China. After pretreatment, 10 spectral indicators were obtained. Ridge regression, kernel ridge regression, Bayesian ridge regression, and AdaBoost algorithms were then used to construct the SOM hyperspectral inversion model based on the characteristic bands, and the accuracy of the models was compared. The results showed that the AdaBoost algorithm based on a grid search had the best accuracy in the different regions. For the mining area in northwest China,

R_{p}^{2}

= 0.91,

R M S E_{p}

= 0.22, and

M A E_{p}

= 0.2. For the Honghu farmland area,

R_{p}^{2}

= 0.86,

R M S E_{p}

= 0.72, and

M A E_{p}

= 0.56. The detection of SOM content using hyperspectral technology has the characteristics of a high detection precision and high speed, which will be of great significance for the rapid development of precision agriculture. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Biosensors for Soil Monitoring)

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18 pages, 2365 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enzymatic Activity and Its Relationship with Organic Matter Characterization and Ecotoxicity to Aliivibrio fischeri of Soil Samples Exposed to Tetrabutylphosphonium Bromide

by Arkadiusz Telesiński, Barbara Pawłowska, Robert Biczak, Marek Śnieg, Jacek Wróbel, Dorota Dunikowska and Edward Meller

Sensors 2021, 21(5), 1565; https://doi.org/10.3390/s21051565 - 24 Feb 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1745

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the impact of tetrabutylphosphonium bromide [TBP][Br] on the soil environment through an experiment on loamy sand samples. The tested salt was added to soil samples at doses of 0 (control), 1, 10, 100, and 1000 mg kg⁻¹ dry matter (DM). During the experiment, the activity of selected enzymes involved in carbon, phosphorus, and nitrogen cycles, characteristics of organic matter with Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and toxicity of soil samples in relation to Aliivibrio fischeri were determined at weekly intervals. The results showed that low doses of [TBP][Br] (1 and 10 mg kg⁻¹ DM) did not have much influence on the analyzed parameters. However, the addition of higher doses of the salt into the soil samples (100 and 1000 mg kg⁻¹ DM) resulted in a decrease in the activity of enzymes participating in the carbon and phosphorus cycle and affected the activation of those enzymes involved in the nitrogen cycle. This may be due to changes in aerobic conditions and in the qualitative and quantitative composition of soil microorganisms. It was also observed that the hydrophobicity of soil organic matter was increased. Moreover, the findings suggested that the soil samples containing the highest dose of [TBP][Br] (1000 mg kg⁻¹ DM) can be characterized as acute environmental hazard based on their toxicity to Aliivibrio fischeri bacteria. The increased hydrophobicity and ecotoxicity of the soil samples exposed to the tested salt were also positively correlated with the activity of dehydrogenases, proteases, and nitrate reductase. Observed changes may indicate a disturbance of the soil ecochemical state caused by the presence of [TBP][Br]. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Biosensors for Soil Monitoring)

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18 pages, 2546 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Metabolt: An In-Situ Instrument to Characterize the Metabolic Activity of Microbial Soil Ecosystems Using Electrochemical and Gaseous Signatures

by Miracle Israel Nazarious, María-Paz Zorzano and Javier Martín-Torres

Sensors 2020, 20(16), 4479; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20164479 - 11 Aug 2020

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 4733

Abstract

Metabolt is a portable soil incubator to characterize the metabolic activity of microbial ecosystems in soils. It measures the electrical conductivity, the redox potential, and the concentration of certain metabolism-related gases in the headspace just above a given sample of regolith. In its current design, the overall weight of Metabolt, including the soils (250 g), is 1.9 kg with a maximum power consumption of 1.5 W. Metabolt has been designed to monitor the activity of the soil microbiome for Earth and space applications. In particular, it can be used to monitor the health of soils, the atmospheric-regolith fixation, and release of gaseous species such as N₂, H₂O, CO₂, O₂, N₂O, NH₃, etc., that affect the Earth climate and atmospheric chemistry. It may be used to detect and monitor life signatures in soils, treated or untreated, as well as in controlled environments like greenhouse facilities in space, laboratory research environments like anaerobic chambers, or simulating facilities with different atmospheres and pressures. To illustrate its operation, we tested the instrument with sub-arctic soil samples at Earth environmental conditions under three different conditions: (i) no treatment (unperturbed); (ii) sterilized soil: after heating at 125 °C for 35.4 h (thermal stress); (iii) stressed soil: after adding 25% CaCl₂ brine (osmotic stress); with and without addition of 0.5% glucose solution (for control). All the samples showed some distinguishable metabolic response, however there was a time delay on its appearance which depends on the treatment applied to the samples: 80 h for thermal stress without glucose, 59 h with glucose; 36 h for osmotic stress with glucose and no significant reactivation in the pure water case. This instrument shows that, over time, there is a clear observable footprint of the electrochemical signatures in the redox profile which is complementary to the gaseous footprint of the metabolic activity through respiration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Biosensors for Soil Monitoring)

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20 pages, 4695 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Role of Dactylis Glomerata and Diesel Oil in the Formation of Microbiome and Soil Enzyme Activity

by Agata Borowik, Jadwiga Wyszkowska, Mirosław Kucharski and Jan Kucharski

Sensors 2020, 20(12), 3362; https://doi.org/10.3390/s20123362 - 13 Jun 2020

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2564

Abstract

The global demand for petroleum contributes to a significant increase in soil pollution with petroleum-based products that pose a severe risk not only to humans but also to plants and the soil microbiome. The increasing pollution of the natural environment urges the search for effective remediation methods. Considering the above, the objective of this study was to determine the usability of Dactylis glomerata for the degradation of hydrocarbons contained in diesel oil (DO), as well as the effects of both the plant tested and DO on the biochemical functionality and changes in the soil microbiome. The experiment was conducted in a greenhouse with non-polluted soil as well as soil polluted with DO and phytoremediated with Dactylis glomerata. Soil pollution with DO increased the numbers of microorganisms and soil enzymes and decreased the value of the ecophysiological diversity index of microorganisms. Besides, it contributed to changes in the bacterial structure at all taxonomic levels. DO was found to increase the abundance of Proteobacteria and to decrease that of Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, Gemmatimonadetes and Firmicutes. In the non-polluted soil, the core microbiome was represented by Kaistobacter and Rhodoplanes, whereas in the DO-polluted soil, it was represented by Parvibaculum and Rhodococcus. In soil sown with Dactylis glomerata, gasoline fraction (C₆–C₁₂) degradation was higher by 17%; mineral oil (C₁₂–C₃₅), by 9%; benzene, by 31%; anthracene, by 12%; chrysene, by 38%; benzo(a)anthracene, by 19%; benzo(a)pyrene, by 17%; benzo(b)fluoranthene, by 15%; and benzo(k)fluoranthene, by 18% than in non-sowed soil. To conclude, Dactylis glomerata proved useful in degrading DO hydrocarbons and, therefore, may be recommended for the phytoremediation of soils polluted with petroleum-based products. It has been shown that the microbiological, biochemical and chemical tests are fast and sensitive in the diagnosis of soil contamination with petroleum products, and a combination of all these tests gives a reliable assessment of the state of soils. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Biosensors for Soil Monitoring)

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