Biodegradation as a Sustainable Solution for Environmental Restoration: Bridging the Gap
Mahfoudh A.M. Abdulghani 1*, Fouad Saleh Al-Suede 2, Mohammed Ali Ahmed Saeed 3
Microbial Bioactives 7(1) 1-11 https://doi.org/10.25163/microbbioacts.719377
Submitted: 03 December 2023 Revised: 05 February 2024 Published: 11 February 2024
Bacterial degradation plays a vital role in environmental remediation, breaking down pollutants like hydrocarbons and heavy metals through diverse mechanisms.
Abstract
Microbial biodegradation, as a sustainable solution for environmental restoration, has gained significant attention in recent years. With growing concerns about pollution, waste management, and the depletion of natural resources, there is a pressing need to explore eco-friendly approaches to mitigate environmental degradation. Biodegradation offers a promising avenue for addressing these challenges by harnessing the power of nature's own processes to break down and eliminate pollutants. Enzymatic processes, such as those involving hydrolases, oxidases, and dehydrogenases, are what allow them to biodegrade contaminants into less toxic forms. The genetic foundation of microbial biodegradation has been better understood because to developments in genomics and molecular biology. Techniques such as biostimulation and bioaugmentation are used to improve the performance of microbial communities. While bioaugmentation adds specialized microbial consortia to speed up pollution breakdown, biostimulation includes adding nutrients and electron acceptors to encourage natural microbial populations. Temperature, nutrition availability, and pH all affect how well microorganisms biodegrade materials. Optimizing the results of biodegradation requires customizing these settings to particular pollutants and habitats. The environmentally acceptable and economical method of cleaning up the environment is microbial biodegradation. We can solve pressing pollution challenges while preserving and restoring ecosystems by utilizing the potential of microbial communities. The importance of microbial biodegradation is emphasized in this abstract, which also calls for more study and practical implementation of these communities for a better, cleaner Earth.
Keywords: Microbial biodegradation, Environmental cleanup, Pollutant biodegradation, Microbial communities, Biostimulation
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