Lead and Cu in contaminated urban soils: Extraction with chemical reagents and bioluminescent bacteria and yeast

Twenty urban soil samples, with a wide range of Pb (14–5323 mg/kg) and Cu (8–12987 mg/kg), were used to compare the operational speciation of a five-step sequential leach with the bioavailability determined with bioluminescent Pb (RN4220(pTOO24)) and Cu (MC1061(pSLcueR/pDNPcopAluc)) specific bacterial biosensors and a Cu specific yeast sensor. The bioavailable Pb concentrations were all similar or lower than the first sequential leach step (1M NaOAc). In contrast, in some samples the bioavailable concentrations of Cu clearly exceeded even the second sequential leach step (0.1 M Na4P2O7). With the yeast sensor 12/20 samples were below detection, however, the yeast sensor was capable of detecting all high Cu concentrations. The biosensors used in this study are not capable of detecting the natural soil concentrations of Pb and Cu in the studied area.