Chapter 6 - Microbial enzymes and their budding roles in bioremediation: Foreseen tool for combating environmental pollution

Abstract

Environmental pollution is a grave problem for humans and all components of the environment like soil, water, and air. Different pollutants like heavy metals (As, Hg, etc.), polychlorinated biphenyl compounds (PCBs), hydrocarbons, petroleum products, nitrogen-containing chemicals, insecticides, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, different toxic dyes, and pharmaceutical by-products are being released in the environment from various industrial and agricultural resources. Many conventional approaches have been used for remediation which are expensive, time-consuming, and insufficient. Recently, bioremediation has emerged as the most promising method which can efficiently degrade toxic substances with the use of beneficial microbes. It involves the utilization of the microbial system to expel environmental pollutants, thus proposing an environment safe approach. This chapter would, therefore, discuss the bioremediation of toxic pollutants through the action of enzymes produced by microorganisms. Several bacterial and fungal generally synthesize enzymes that are chiefly involved in the breakdown of contaminants to simpler compounds, thus decontaminating the environment. Moreover, the chapter will emphasize mainly different microbial enzymes (oxidoreductases and hydrolases) and their potential role in environmental cleaning to make them the promising tool for the diminution of pollution.