Bioluminescence-Triggered Photoswitchable Bacterial Adhesions Enable Higher Sensitivity and Dual-Readout Bacterial Biosensors for Mercury.

We present a new concept for whole-cell biosensors that couples the response to Hg with bioluminescence and bacterial aggregation. This allows us to use the bacterial aggregation to preconcentrate the bioluminescent bacteria at the substrate surface and increase the sensitivity of Hg detection. This whole-cell biosensor combines a Hg-sensitive bioluminescence reporter and light-responsive bacterial cell-cell adhesions.