2026/04/24 by Meilun Wang, Xingshuo Wang, Zhiyuan Chang +4 · 1 voice
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Engineering · Environmental Science · #Advanced biosensing and bioanalysis techniques #Biosensors and Analytical Detection #Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts
paper · doi:10.1021/acssynbio.5c00891
openalex publication_date 2026/04/24 · openalex created_date 2026/04/25 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/17
The advancement of synthetic biology has enabled transformative approaches for environmental monitoring, yet the simultaneous quantification of multiple co-occurring pollutants, an inherent feature of real environmental contamination, remains a significant challenge. In this study, we engineered a multicolor bactosensor capable of concurrently detecting tetracycline and erythromycin by integrating two transcription-factor-based sensing modules into a single plasmid and enhancing the performance by introducing antibiotic resistance genes. The bactosensor exhibited a high detection specificity toward individual tetracyclines and macrolides. Notably, it enabled quantitative discrimination of binary antibiotic mixtures through simple visual comparison of fluorescence color differences in bacterial images captured with a smartphone. The platform further demonstrated reliable accuracy in detecting antibiotics in real water samples. Overall, this work establishes a novel, field-deployable bactosensor for on-site quantification of antibiotic mixtures, particularly their bioavailable fractions, which are often overlooked in conventional chemical analyses.