The various compounds released by the (organic (containing carbon)) explosives can be metabolized by bacteria. And bacterial metabolism is often linked to sens

The various compounds released by the (organic (containing carbon)) explosives can be metabolized by bacteria. And bacterial metabolism is often linked to sensors within the bacteria already - so that the machinery for metabolizing X isn't actually produced unless the bacteria can sense X in its environment. If we find a bacteria that already has this system, we can commandeer it so that upon sensing TNT/DNT/Nitrates it produces a reporter (color, it moves, another sense-able chemical) instead of or along with the enzymes used to metabolize those explosive materials. A list of tested analytes and reporters: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4625088/table/T1/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4625088/table/T... And a very basic diagram: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4625088/figure/F1/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4625088/figure/... And images of what the bacteria look like when 'turned on' by TNT, DNT, or nitrates: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4625088/figure/F1/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4625088/figure/... [From the paper: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4625088/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4625088/ ]