Optimized Detection of Water and Food Toxin Contamination Using Vibrio persian Bioluminescence Inhibition Assay (VPBIA)

Environmental pollution is a major global problem, which involves the pollution of food and drinking water, and the assessment of pollution levels is vital for the health of the community. The most significant part of this assessment is to determine the involvement of unintentional contamination (agricultural pesticides) and deliberate biological attacks of drinking water. The aim of this study was to detect water and food toxin contamination using Vibrio persian Bioluminescence Inhibition Assay (VPBIA) by optimizing the culture medium condition. To this end, the optimization of the growth and bioluminescence emission of the bacteria was carried out in four media cultures: photobacterium, Luria-Bertani (LB), and two seawater mediums (SWC#1, SWC#2). After determining SWC#1 as an optimum culture medium and optimizing the growth and emission of bioluminescence using response surface methodology (RSM), three factors (temperature variation, pH, and incubation time) were considered. The experimental design results indicated that the best conditions for the growth and distribution of the bacteria bioluminescence are pH 8.5, 20°C, and an incubation time of 20 h. Finally, the bioluminescent inhibitory bioassays for two food and water toxin (Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) and cholera toxin) were performed. The results show that cholera toxin had the most effect on V. persian light emissions. This new method could be used for the development of warning devices in order to detect water and food contamination.