Microbial Biodegradation and Metagenomics in Remediation of Environmental Pollutants: Enzymes and Mechanisms

Abstract

Nowadays, pollution and the number of contaminated sites are increasing due to widespread industrialization around the world, which threatens the lives of humans and every living organism on Earth. Biological methods such as biodegradation, bioremediation, phytoremediation, and vermiremediation are effective ways to reduce pollution in contaminated sites. Microorganisms play an imperative role in the biodegradation and bioremediation of pollutants by catalyzing chemical and biochemical reactions via their enzymes. At present, exceptional novel enzymes with exceptional functions is in progress around the world. To date, many researchers have taken considerable efforts to improve the properties of the available enzymes by various methods such as protein engineering. However, there is still a great demand for enzymes with extraordinary properties that make them resistant yet still active under harsh conditions and extreme environments. The most important source of current enzymes is culturable microorganisms (nearly 0.1% of these microorganisms), whereas unculturable microorganisms have a great potential to be the source of novel enzymes. In this context, metagenomics, a culture-independent approach, enables us to excavate this diverse source. In this chapter, the metagenomic principle, along with recent advances, has been reviewed. Thereafter, contaminated sites and microbial biodegradation pathways are introduced. The main focus of this chapter is on exploring degrading enzymes by metagenomics and their applications in microbial biodegradation. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.