Journal of Environmental Biology

Development of an inhibitive assay using commercial

Electrophorus electricus acetylcholinesterase for heavy

metal detection

M.Y. Shukor¹*, L.G. Tham¹, M.I.E.Halmi¹, I. Khalid1, Ghousia Begum² and M.A. Syed¹

¹Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University Putra

Malaysia-43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

²Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Tarnaka, Hyderabad-500 007, India

*Corresponding Author E-mail: yunus@biotech.upm.edu.my

Publication Data

Paper received:

04 March 2012

Revised received:

07 May 2013

Accepted:

01 June 2013

Abstract

Near-real-time assay is an assay method that the whole process from sampling until results could be obtained in approximately less than one hour. The Ellman assay for acetyl cholinesterase (AChE) has near real-time potential due to its simplicity and fast assay time. The commercial acetylcholinesterase from Electrophorus electricus is well known for its uses in insecticides detection. A lesser known fact is AChE is also sensitive to heavy metals. A near real-time inhibitive assay for heavy metals using AChE from this source showed promising results. Several heavy metals such as copper, silver and mercury could be detected with IC₅₀ values of 1.212, 0.1185 and 0.097 mg l^-1, respectively. The Limits of detection (LOD) for copper, silver and mercury were 0.01, 0.015 and 0.01 mg l^-1, respectively. TheLimits of quantitation (LOQ) for copper, silver and mercury were 0.196, 0.112 and 0.025 mg l^-1, respectively. The LOQ values for copper, silver and mercury were well below the maximum permissible limit for these metal ions as outlined by Malaysian Department of Environment. A polluted location demonstrated near real-time applicability of the assay with variation of temporal levels of heavy metals detected. The results show that AChE from Electrophorus electricus has the potential to be used as a near real-time biomonitoring tool for heavy metals.

Key words

Key words

AChE, Electrophorus electricus, Heavy metals, Near real-time assay

Copyright ? 2013 Triveni Enterprises. All rights reserved. No part of the Journal can be reproduced in any form without prior permission. Responsibility regarding the authenticity of the data, and the acceptability of the conclusions enforced or derived, rest completely with the author(s).