US 12,571,789 B1
Microbial subsurface soil sensors
Miles Rogers, Watertown, MA (US); Allison Taggart, Portsmouth, RI (US); Eric Young, Northborough, MA (US); Natalie Farny, Natick, MA (US); Nilesh Sharma, Worcester, MA (US); Andrés Felipe Carrillo Rincón, Worcester, MA (US); and Jaclyn Thompson, Worcester, MA (US)
Assigned to RTX BBN TECHNOLOGIES, INC., Cambridge, MA (US); and WORCESTER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, Worcester, MA (US)
Filed by Raytheon BBN Technologies, Corp., Cambridge, MA (US); and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA (US)
Filed on Nov. 10, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/984,869.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/329,328, filed on Apr. 8, 2022.
Int. Cl. G01N 33/24 (2006.01)
CPC G01N 33/24 (2013.01) 29 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of detecting a target analyte in subsurface soil, comprising:
providing a sensor bacterium, a signal propagation bacterium, and a display bacterium at a soil surface;
allowing the sensor bacterium and the signal propagation bacterium to migrate into subsurface soil below the soil surface; and
observing an output from the display bacterium when the sensor bacterium is exposed to the target analyte in the subsurface soil and produces a signal molecule in response to the presence of the target analyte, and the signal propagation bacterium amplifies the signal molecule by producing additional signal molecules in response to the presence of the signal molecule, and the display bacterium produces an observable signal in response to presence of the signal molecule.