445: Living Lurking Landmine Locators

This episode: Engineered bacteria encapsulated in little beads
sense chemicals from landmines and give off light!


Download Episode (6.4 MB, 9.3 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Bifidobacterium pullorum



Takeaways




Landmines are a good way to take an enemy by surprise and do
some damage. They're so good that some places in the world
still aren't safe to go decades after a conflict, due to
intact landmines hidden in the area. In order to detect them
from a distance to aid in disarming efforts, we need
something very good at detecting the faint odor they give
off—something like bacteria!


 


In this study, bacteria are engineered to detect breakdown
products of TNT in landmines and produce
light—bioluminescence. These bacteria are encapsulated in
polymer beads and are stable for months in the freezer, and
could accurately pinpoint a landmine buried in sand for a
year and a half.



 
Journal Paper:
Shemer B, Shpigel E, Hazan C, Kabessa Y, Agranat AJ, Belkin S.
Detection of buried explosives with immobilized bacterial
bioreporters. Microb Biotechnol
https://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.13683.


Other interesting stories:



Wastewater treatment plant could power itself from
electricity produced by microbes

Microbial exposures correlate with presence or lack of
allergies in both people and their dogs




 


Email questions or comments to bacteriofiles at gmail dot
com. Thanks for listening!


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