Bacterial Bioreporter Applications in Ecotoxicology: Concepts and Practical Approach

Bioreporters are widespread in the ecotoxicological field, and they are used in concert with a range of physico-chemical methods for environmental characterization. These biological methods allow the assessment of other parameters that are not otherwise accessible. Among the broad diversity of available bioreporters, bacterial approaches are particularly interesting for their simple implementation, low cost and timeliness of their response (because of their metabolic kinetics and their growth rate). In this chapter, we are interested in the primary proposed strategies from one initial assumption: the use of one bioreporter to test one parameter. This strategy rapidly reached its limits (for lack of specificity or representativity), thus opening the way for other biological approaches that were more reliable but also more complex (implemented technology and data treatment).