Biotechnology and bioremediation: successes and limitations

With advances in biotechnology, bioremediation has become one of the most rapidly developing fields of environmental restoration, utilizing microorganisms to reduce the concentration and toxicity of various chemical pollutants, such as petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polych...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied microbiology and biotechnology 2002-07, Vol.59 (2/3), p.143-152
Main Authors: Dua, M, Singh, A, Sethunathan, N, Johri, A.K
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bioavailability
Biodegradation
Biodegradation of pollutants
Biodegradation, Environmental
Biological and medical sciences
Biological Availability
Bioremediation
Biosensing Techniques
Biotechnology
Chemical pollutants
Chemical pollution
Contaminants
DNA shuffling
Environment and pollution
Environmental Pollution
Environmental restoration
Esters
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genetic Engineering
Genetics
Hydrocarbons
Industrial applications and implications. Economical aspects
metals
Microorganisms
nitroaromatic compounds
PCB
Pesticides
petroleum
Petroleum hydrocarbons
phthalates
pollutants
Polychlorinated biphenyls
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
solvents
toxicity
wastes
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:With advances in biotechnology, bioremediation has become one of the most rapidly developing fields of environmental restoration, utilizing microorganisms to reduce the concentration and toxicity of various chemical pollutants, such as petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, phthalate esters, nitroaromatic compounds, industrial solvents, pesticides and metals. A number of bioremediation strategies have been developed to treat contaminated wastes and sites. Selecting the most appropriate strategy to treat a specific site can be guided by considering three basic principles: the amenability of the pollutant to biological transformation to less toxic products (biochemistry), the accessibility of the contaminant to microorganisms (bioavailability) and the opportunity for optimization of biological activity (bioactivity). Recent advances in the molecular genetics of biodegradation and studies on enzyme-tailoring and DNA-shuffling are discussed in this paper.
ISSN:0175-7598
1432-0614
DOI:10.1007/s00253-002-1024-6