Adaptable Microbial Sensors

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Abstract
The specificity of microbial sensors using Bacillus subtilis or Trichosporon cutaneum was improved by preincubating the microbial electrode for 3–12 h with the desired substrate. This effect has been found for fructose, maltose, lactose, sucrose, erlose, ribose, xylose, glycerol, alanine, glycine, and aspartate. The signal for the induced substrate was increased by a factor between 1.5 and 26.0. From experiments with chloramphenicol and glucose as well as alpha-methylglucose it was concluded that the substrate uptake process is involved in the signal generating process and a “de novo protein synthesis” proceeds during preincubation.