Advances in microbial bioremediation and the factors influencing the process

摘要

Irrational and rapid global human societal development has culminated to a condition of environmental deterioration. Accidental leakage and deliberate use of organic and inorganic chemicals have contaminated the environment up to the level of ecosystem. Advancements have been made in the field of research on bioremediation of the hazardous contaminants especially in last three decades. Microbial bioremediation has been the most understood biotechnological process of environmental restoration. Bacteria and fungi because of their inherent ability to adapt and grow in extreme environments have been employed for either removal or degradation of the chemical contaminants. Researchers all over the world are getting breakthroughs in finding new bacterial strains having plasmid linked degradation/reduction ability. Molecular biology and genetic engineering helped in crafting the microbes for the desired results on environment. Despite having favorable conditions, microbial remediation largely depends on environmental factors and on the basic biological characters of microbes, especially bacteria being Gram-positive or Gram-negative. Metagenomic studies revealed the importance of microbial ecology as microbes work well in community, i.e., consortia. This review along with several other studies suggests the need of precision during microbial community identification, substrate specificity and the designing of microbes