PMID- 35041816
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20220401
LR  - 20220401
IS  - 1096-0953 (Electronic)
IS  - 0013-9351 (Linking)
VI  - 208
DP  - 2022 May 15
TI  - A quantitative, high-throughput urease activity assay for comparison and rapid 
      screening of ureolytic bacteria.
PG  - 112738
LID - S0013-9351(22)00065-2 [pii]
LID - 10.1016/j.envres.2022.112738 [doi]
AB  - Urease is a dinickel enzyme commonly found in numerous organisms that catalyses 
      the hydrolysis of urea into ammonia and carbon dioxide. The microbially induced 
      carbonate precipitation (MICP) process mediated by urease-producing bacteria 
      (UPB) can be used for many applications including, environmental bioremediation, 
      soil improvement, healing of cracks in concrete, and sealing of rock joints. 
      Despite the importance of urease and UPB in various applications, a quantitative, 
      high-throughput assay for the comparison of urease activity in UPB and rapid 
      screening of UPB from diverse environments is lacking. Herein, we reported a 
      quantitative, 96-well plate assay for urease activity based on the Christensen's 
      urea agar test. Using this assay, we compared urease activity of six bacterial 
      strains (E. coli BL21, P. putida KT2440, P. aeruginosa PAO1, S. oneidensis MR-1, 
      S. pasteurii DSM 33, and B. megaterium DSM 319) and showed that S. pasteurii DSM 
      33 exhibited the highest urease activity. We then applied this assay to quantify 
      the inhibitory effect of calcium on urease activity of S. pasteurii DSM 33. No 
      significant inhibition was observed in the presence of calcium at concentrations 
      below 10 mM, while the urease activity decreased rapidly at higher 
      concentrations. At a concentration higher than 200 mM, calcium completely 
      inhibited urease activity under the tested conditions. We further applied this 
      assay to screen for highly active UPB from a wastewater enrichment and identified 
      a strain of S. pasteurii exhibiting a substantially higher urease activity than 
      DSM 33. Taken together, we established a 96-well plate-based quantitative, 
      high-throughput urease activity assay that can be used for comparison and rapid 
      screening of UPB. As UPB and urease activity are of interest to environmental, 
      civil, and medical researchers and practitioners, we envisage wide applications 
      of the assay reported in this study.
CI  - Copyright (c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
FAU - Cui, Ming-Juan
AU  - Cui MJ
AD  - College of Civil Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108, Fujian, China; 
      School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 
      50 Nanyang Ave, Singapore, 639798, Singapore.
FAU - Teng, Aloysius
AU  - Teng A
AD  - Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, Interdisciplinary 
      Graduate Programme, Graduate College, Nanyang Technological University, 60 
      Nanyang Dr, Singapore, 637551, Singapore.
FAU - Chu, Jian
AU  - Chu J
AD  - School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 
      50 Nanyang Ave, Singapore, 639798, Singapore. Electronic address: 
      cjchu@ntu.edu.sg.
FAU - Cao, Bin
AU  - Cao B
AD  - School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 
      50 Nanyang Ave, Singapore, 639798, Singapore; Singapore Centre for Environmental 
      Life Sciences Engineering, Interdisciplinary Graduate Programme, Graduate 
      College, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang Dr, Singapore, 637551, 
      Singapore. Electronic address: bincao@ntu.edu.sg.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20220115
PL  - Netherlands
TA  - Environ Res
JT  - Environmental research
JID - 0147621
RN  - EC 3.5.1.5 (Urease)
RN  - H0G9379FGK (Calcium Carbonate)
SB  - IM
MH  - Bacteria
MH  - Calcium Carbonate
MH  - Escherichia coli
MH  - *Sporosarcina
MH  - Urease
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Biomineralization
OT  - MICP
OT  - Urease
OT  - Urease-producing bacteria
EDAT- 2022/01/19 06:00
MHDA- 2022/04/02 06:00
CRDT- 2022/01/18 20:11
PHST- 2021/11/30 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2022/01/12 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2022/01/12 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2022/01/19 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2022/04/02 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2022/01/18 20:11 [entrez]
AID - S0013-9351(22)00065-2 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.envres.2022.112738 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Environ Res. 2022 May 15;208:112738. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.112738. Epub 2022 
      Jan 15.