Detection of herbicide subclasses by an optical multibiosensor based on an array of photosystem II mutants

Massive use of herbicides in agriculture over the last few decades has become a serious environmental problem. The residual concentration of these compounds frequently exceeds the maximum admissible concentration in drinking water for human consumption and is a real environmental risk for the aquatic ecosystem. Herbicides inhibiting photosynthesis via targeting photosystem 11 function still represent the basic means of weed control. A multibiosensor was constructed for detecting herbicides using as biosensing elements photosynthetic preparations coupled to an optical fluorescence transduction system (Giardi et al. EU patent EP1134585, 01830148.1-2204); this paper is about its application in the detection of herbicide subclasses in river water. Photosynthetic material was immobilized on a silicio septum inside a series of flow cells, close to diodes so as to activate photosystem 11 (PSII) fluorescence. The principle of the detection was based on the fact that herbicides selectively modify PSII fluorescence activity. The multibiosensor has the original feature of being able to distinguish the subclasses of the photosynthetic herbicides by using specific immobilized biomediators isolated from mutated organisms. This setup resulted in a reusable, portable multibiosensor for the detection of herbicide subclasses with a half-life of 54 h for spinach thylakoids and limit of detection of 3 x 10(-9) M for herbicides present in river water.