Imparting As(III) Responsiveness to the Choline Response Transcriptional Regulator BetI.

The development of a low-cost and user-friendly sensor using microorganisms to monitor the presence of As(III) on earth has garnered significant attention. In conventional research on microbial As(III) sensors, the focus has been on transcription factor ArsR, which plays a role in As(III) metabolism. However, we recently discovered that LuxR, a quorum-sensing control factor in that contains multiple cysteine residues, acted as an As(III) sensor despite having no role in As(III) metabolism.