Highly Specific Biosensors to Herbicides, Based on Sensitive- and Resistant-Mutants of Microalgae

Abstract

The notion that humankind has changed the biosphere led to the Nobel prize Paul Crutzen to propose, a decade ago, the new term “Anthropocene” to denote the current interval of time in the earth dominated by human driven large-scale activities (Crutzen, 2002). The massive loss of diversity, homogenization of biotas, proliferation of opportunistic species and unpredictable emergent novelties can be considered among the distinctive features of the future biosphere (Myers & Knoll, 2001). Intensive agriculture, supported by the massive use of herbicides, pesticides and compounds with biocidal activity, is a significant cause of the biodiversity crisis (Tilman, 1999). The impact of these toxic compounds on biodiversity threatens all ecosystems, being particularly significant in those characterized by a slow response to change, such as aquatic systems. Phytoplankton are responsible for about half of the global primary production, driving essential biogeochemical cycles, exporting massive amounts of carbon to deep waters and sediments in the open ocean and strongly influencing the water–atmosphere gas exchanges (Rost et al., 2008). Since these organisms represent the basis of the aquatic food web, the repercussions of the impact on phytoplankton populations will undoubtedly affect the rest of the components of the trophic web. Step behind of the risen up of scientific and social concern regarding the environmental pollution control, developed countries have begun to take legislative actions to protect the ecosystems from chemical pollution. For the time being, the monitoring of water quality has generally relied on the collection of spot water samples followed by extraction and laboratory-based instrumental analysis. These analytical methods usually requires the use of sophisticated equipment, skilled laboratory personnel, are time consuming, expensive and difficult to adapt for fieldwork. Besides, this provides only a snapshot of the situation at the sampling time and fails to provide more realistic information due to spatio-temporal variations in water characteristics (Rodriguez-Mozaz et al., 2006). The European Union Water Framework Directive (WFD), one of the most important pieces of environmental legislation, is likely to transform the way that determination of water quality is undertaken. Within the next few years, the implementation of the WFD will require a considerable additional monitoring effort to be undertaken and a wide range of