Regular articleDevelopment of recA promoter based bisphenol-A sensing and adsorption system by recombinant Escherichia coli

•Bisphenol - A sensing and adsorption system was developed using recA promoter.•Bisphenol - A sensing nature of recA promoter was explored as bio-sensors.•Bisphenol - A adsorption system was developed using surface display strategies.

Bisphenol-A (BPA)-sensing and adsorption recombinant Escherichia coli were constructed based on the recA promoter. Quantitative, real-time PCR was carried out to analyze the expression profile of the ompC gene in response to various concentrations of BPA. The results show that this system senses BPA from 50 ppb to a maximum concentration of 40 ppm. The adsorption system based on the cell surface display fused with a BPA binding peptide can absorb 354.0 μmol/g cell DCW at 180 ppm of BPA. The strains used in the study show high selectivity towards BPA adsorption and sensing, and this novel system could thus be employed for sensing and adsorption in BPA contaminated environments, such as in thermal paper wastewater industry and other BPA leached water.