Honors Theses
Advisor
Justin Biffinger
Department
Chemistry
Publication Date
12-16-2020
Document Type
Honors Thesis
Abstract
Shewanella woodyi is a bioluminescent marine organism that is known to be metal tolerant and modulate the intensity of its luminescence with electrochemical potential. The viability of S. woodyi as a bioreporter for the toxic heavy metal zinc, copper, and silver was analyzed. Biofilms of S. woodyi was grown on marine broth agar plates and then exposed to various concentrations of each metal ion to evaluate biofilm response to the metal ions that were generated from an operating short circuited electrode containing either Zn, Cu, or Ag metal. The ability of the bacteria to tolerate the heavy metals and continue to luminesce was evaluated at designated distances from the electrode by ICP-OES. The possibility of an electricidal effect was determined to be insignificant near the electrodes. So, even though S. woodyi showed unprecedented tolerance for Zn(II), it would ultimately be a marginal living bioreporter without genetic modification.
Permission Statement
This item is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code) and may only be used for noncommercial, educational, and scholarly purposes.
Keywords
Undergraduate research
Disciplines
Chemistry
eCommons Citation
Mortensen, Christopher Thomas, "The Tolerance of Shewanella woodyi for Electric Potentials and Heavy Metals as Biofilms" (2020). Honors Theses. 301.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/uhp_theses/301
