Microbial Biosensors as Pesticide Detector: An Overview

Abstract

Farmers are highly dependent upon agrochemicals to boost crop production through soil fertilization and and insect pests, pathogens, parasites, and weeds management . However, contentious application of agrochemicals on the farm has aggravated residual accumulation and has become problematic for environmental safety besides causing disease to humans and other animals. Thus, the analysis of chemical residues from the environment is vital for policymakers and communities. Mostly, chemists were devoted to analyzing the existing contaminants from different sources by using highly sophisticated chromatographic equipment, although it is time taking, laborious, costly, and that required well-trained professionals. However, biosensors are more important to analyze chemical contaminants from different samples using various bioreporters integrated with electrochemical and optical transducers. Microbes are metabolically diverse, amenable for genetic engineering, cost effective in culturing, and tolerant to diverse conditions. Thus, microbial biosensor is capturing attention and becoming more effective for environmental monitoring. Therefore, this review assessed the implication of microbial biosensors for pesticide detection and the role of genetic engineering for strain improvement.