AroTrack

About AroTrack:

• It accurately detects harmful aromatic xenobiotic pollutants such as phenol or benzene, xylenols.
• It uses proteins typically found in bacteria living in heavily polluted environments to effectively identify multiple aromatic pollutants in water.
• This protein undergoes a highly selective ATP hydrolysis chemical reaction if an aromatic compound is present in the sample.
• This reaction is expressed with a change in the colour of the protein solution, which AroTrack can then detect.
• AroTrack contains a light emitting diode [LED]-phototransistor assembly that shines a light of appropriate wavelength through the sample and detects how much is absorbed.
• The key component of the device is a biosensing module called MopR - a sensitive sensor for detecting phenol.
• The device also reliably worked in water temperatures up to 50 degrees Celsius and completed the tests in less than 30 minutes.
• Significance: It's low cost, battery-operated nature, and portability can be ideal for rural and low-income settings that often lack resources and have difficulty accessing expensive laboratory tests.

Q1: What are Xenobiotics?

These are substances foreign to living systems and include drugs, pesticides, pollutants, carcinogens, volatile petrochemicals, food additives, and polluted working environments.

News: IIT Bombay scientists develop water-pollutant detecting device ‘AroTrack’