ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Gluconobacter sp. cells for manufacturing of effective electrochemical biosensors and biofuel cells

Aniko Bertokova, Tomas Bertok, Jaroslav Filip, and Jan Tkac

Institute of Chemistry, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Dúbravská cesta 9, 845 38 Bratislava, Slovakia

E-mail: Jan.Tkac@savba.sk

Abstract: Gluconobacter oxydans bacteria exhibit a unique metabolism for quick and incomplete oxidation of a wide range of different compounds (aldoses, ketoses, mono- and poly-alcohols, etc.). Such biotransformation efficiency with simple biomass production led to the industrial applications of these bacteria in the production of several important commodities. Their respiratory activity can also be successfully studied and used in the field of bioelectrochemistry. The main aim of this review is to present various strategies to improve selectivity of assays using intact/treated cells of G. oxydans, to introduce the application of G. oxydans-based biosensors in selective monitoring of analytes during biotransformation processes and to provide information about utilizable sugars in fermentation media or in biological oxygen demand value determination. The final part of the review describes potential application of G. oxydans cells in the generation of electricity from complex fuels within microbial fuel cells by advanced direct electron transfer route between bacterial cells and electrodes.

Keywords: Gluconobacter oxydans – electrodes – biosensors – biofuel cells – dehydrogenases

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1515/chempap-2015-0040

Chemical Papers 69 (1) 27–41 (2015)