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A bioassay was developed and standardized for the rapid, specific, and quantitative assessment of naphthalene and salicylate bioavailability by use of bioluminescence monitoring of catabolic gene expression. The bioluminescent reporter strain Pseudomonas fluorescens HK44, which carries a transcriptional nahG-luxCDABE fusion for naphthalene and salicylate catabolism, was used. The physiological state of the reporter cultures as well as the intrinsic regulatory properties of the naphthalene degradation operon must be taken into account to obtain a high specificity at low target substrate concentrations. Experiments have shown that the use of exponentially growing reporter cultures has advantages over the use of carbon-starved, resting cultures. In aqueous solutions for both substrates, naphthalene and salicylate, linear relationships between initial substrate concentration and bioluminescence response were found over concentration ranges of 1 to 2 orders of magnitude. Naphthalene could be detected at a concentration of 45 ppb. Studies conducted under defined conditions with extracts and slurries of experimentally contaminated sterile soils and identical uncontaminated soil controls demonstrated that this method can be used for specific and quantitative estimations of target pollutant presence and bioavailability in soil extracts and for specific and qualitative estimations of napthalene in soil slurries.

An optical whole-cell biosensor based on a genetically engineered bioluminescent catabolic reporter bacterium was developed for continuous on-line monitoring of naphthalene and salicylate bioavailability and microbial catabolic activity potential in waste streams. The bioluminescent reporter bacterium, Pseudomonas fluorescens HK44, carries a transcriptional nahG-"uxCDABE fusion for naphthalene and salicylate catabolism. Exposure to either compound resulted in inducible bioluminescence. The reporter culture was immobilized onto the surface of an optical light guide by using strontium alginate. This biosensor probe was then inserted into a measurement cell which simultaneously received the waste stream solution and a maintenance medium. Exposure under defined conditions to both naphthalene and salicylate resulted in a rapid increase in bioluminescence. The magnitude of the response and the response time were concentration dependent. Good

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