nitrophenols and hippuric-acid

Detection of chemical signals is critical for cells in nature as well as in synthetic biology, where they serve as inputs for designer circuits. Important progress has been made in the design of signal processing circuits triggering complex biological behaviors, but the range of small molecules recognized by sensors as inputs is limited. The ability to detect new molecules will increase the number of synthetic biology applications, but direct engineering of tailor-made sensors takes time. Here we describe a way to immediately expand the range of biologically detectable molecules by systematically designing metabolic pathways that transform nondetectable molecules into molecules for which sensors already exist. We leveraged computer-aided design to predict such sensing-enabling metabolic pathways, and we built several new whole-cell biosensors for molecules such as cocaine, parathion, hippuric acid, and nitroglycerin.

Topics: Biosensing Techniques; Cocaine; Computer Simulation; Computer-Aided Design; Enzymes; Escherichia coli; Hippurates; Metabolic Engineering; Metabolic Networks and Pathways; Nitroglycerin; Nitrophenols; Parathion; Software; Synthetic Biology

A high-performance liquid chromatographic method is described for the simultaneous determination of six urinary metabolites of several aromatic chemicals: phenol (from benzene), hippuric acid (from toluene), 3-methylhippuric acid (from xylene), mandelic and phenylglyoxylic acid (from styrene) and 4-nitrophenol (from nitrobenzene). Reversed-phase liquid chromatography was performed in an isocratic mode at 1 ml/min on a 5-microns C18 column using two mobile phases: (A) acetonitrile-1% phosphoric acid (10:90); (B) acetonitrile-1% phosphoric acid (30:70). Phase A separates the six metabolites well, but phase B allows to a more rapid and reproducible simultaneous determination of phenolic compounds than phase A. For these compounds a prior enzymic hydrolysis step using Helix pomatia juice is performed to hydrolyse their sulphate and glucuronate conjugates. The reproducibility and the specificity are both excellent. Furthermore, the method is rapid, economical and easily automated. The proposed method appears very suitable for the routine monitoring of workers exposed to these chemicals on the basis of the biological threshold limit values.

Topics: Benzene; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Glyoxylates; Hippurates; Humans; Mandelic Acids; Nitrobenzenes; Nitrophenols; Occupational Exposure; Phenol; Phenols; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet; Styrene; Styrenes; Toluene; Xylenes