The swimming pattern of protozoa can be a low-cost method of identifying water toxins, according to a new study.
Several species of protozoa are covered in hair-like cilia that beat in a coordinated way to propel them through a fluid.
Chemicals in the fluid can interfere with the transport of calcium to the cilia, with different chemicals bringing about a marked alteration in the microbes' swimming style, points out Robert Curtis at Petrel Biosensors, a spin-out of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.
For the study, Curtis's team placed protozoans in test solutions containing different common toxins, and used a camera to assess the resulting swimming patterns.
Using these as reference points, the researchers are now developing a device that uses algorithms to match the microbes' swimming style in a water sample to the toxin present, if any.
"You can see very distinct patterns of swimming, so we can say if it's a heavy metal toxin or a phospho-organic toxin," The New Scientist quoted Curtis, as saying.
According to the company, the instrument will be priced around $15,000.
Each test will cost $1 to 2 and take around 30 seconds, unlike tests with existing devices, which can cost up to $400 and take two to three days, said Curtis.
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