Abstract: Bioluminescent bacteria test is a rapid, sensitive, and cost effective direct bioassay for risk assessment and monitoring of environmental pollutants. This paper briefly reviewed the principles of bioluminescent bacteria test and its applications in water environment, and summarized the factors affecting the metals toxicity in water environment, such as pH, ligands, and interactions between metals. The applications of bioluminescent bacteria test in solid phase samples, the advantages and limitations of different extraction procedures, and the relationships between metals toxicity and speciation in soil were commented. It was proposed that the mechanisms of metals toxicity to bacteria and the standardization and optimization of bioluminescence bacteria test for soil samples should be the important issues in the future. The development of rapid, cost effective, and standardized methods by using bioluminescence bacteria would be significant to the risk assessment and monitoring of metals in soil environment.

Key words: ³²P isotopic technique, P-dissolving fungi, Phosphate fertilizer, Availability