ABSTRACT
The current legislation in the European Union (EU) requires
that water quality and the degree of contamination be assessed
using chemical methods (European Groundwater Directive). Such
methods do not consider the synergistic or antagonistic interactions
that may affect the bioavailability and toxicity of pollutants in the
environment [1]. Bioassays are methods for assessing the toxic
impact of whole samples on the environment and for screen-
ing environmental samples before going onto detailed chemical
analyses that can be time consuming and expensive and do not
allow monitoring [2]. The utilization of organisms possessing lux genes [3] gained significant importance during the last decade since
the toxicity bioassays have been recognized as essential tests with
chemical analyses [4]. The widely used marine photobacterium
Allivibrio fischeri is a self-maintained luminescent unit. The level of in vivo luminescence reflects themetabolic rate of luminous bacteria
and the integrity of the bacterial cells [5].
