By SIMON COLLINS, science reporter
Bacteria are being harnessed to detect poisonous substances in soil and water in a research effort that aims to see New Zealand compete in the multibillion-dollar pollution testing industry.
Scientists hope to put bacteria into unique "biosensors" that will detect pollutants in the field, doing away
with the need to collect samples for laboratory testing.
If it works, biosensing will be faster and cheaper than present testing methods.
The world market for pollution tests is massive. The market for one test alone, which measures oxygen loss in water, is worth $1.2 billion a year.
New Zealand taxpayers are investing $1.6 million in the project over the next four years, through the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology.
The project leader, Dr Neil Pasco of Lincoln University in Canterbury, said the only other biological methods available to detect poisons used genetically modified organisms.
"There is work being done overseas which is dependent on inserting foreign material into bacteria. We are not doing that."
Instead of looking for specific chemicals, the New Zealand team hopes to use normal bacteria to detect anything that has a harmful effect.
"There is not one single chemical responsible for toxicity.
"There can be a whole soup of things that can be toxic," Dr Pasco said. "What you find is that at sites where toxic chemicals have been dumped, the organisms [bacteria] will develop certain characteristics."
Bacterial sensors could be used, for example, to test food or wool for chemical residues before being exported to Europe, to test harbour water for discharges from ships and to test for soil contaminants before converting land to dairying or organic horticulture.
The bacteria would be contained on the sensor, and Dr Pasco said there was no danger that they would escape into the environment.
He said the research aimed to develop a sensor which could be patented and licensed for use around the world.
Lincoln is working on the project with other scientists at Landcare, Nelson's Cawthron Institute, Christchurch Polytechnic, Canterbury University and Waikato University's thermophilic research unit.
nzherald.co.nz/environment
