In-line, Real-time monitoring of Arsenic in Drinking Water

In this Phase I, Agave BioSystems proposes a novel approach for the development of a rapid and sensitive detection system for arsenic in drinking water based on the bioluminescent protein aequorin. The simplicity and ruggedness of this technology has the potential for providing low cost, on-line, real-time monitoring for arsenic as part of a treatment plant process control system. Aequorin is a unique calcium-sensitive photoprotein originally isolated from the jellyfish Aequorea aequorea. In nature, when aequorin is in the presence of calcium, it triggers the chemical reaction that results in the production of light. Agave BioSystems proposes to engineer a genetically modified aequorin that is capable of generating light in the presence of arsenic by replacing the aequorin calcium binding sites with arsenic binding sites. This will result in a specific and rapid arsenic detection mechanism. Subsequently, the engineered molecule will be integrated into a self-contained biosensor for the rapid, and sensitive detection of arsenic in drinking water.