Abstract
Environmental pollution from hazardous waste materials, organic pollutants and heavy metals, has adversely affected the natural ecosystem to the detriment of man. These pollutants arise from anthropogenic sources as well as natural disasters such as hurricanes and volcanic eruptions. Toxic metals could accumulate in agricultural soils and get into the food chain, thereby becoming a major threat to food security. Conventional and physical methods are expensive and not effective in areas with low metal toxicity. Bioremediation is therefore an eco-friendly and efficient method of reclaiming environments contaminated with heavy metals by making use of the inherent biological mechanisms of microorganisms and plants to eradicate hazardous contaminants. This review discusses the toxic effects of heavy metal pollution and the mechanisms used by microbes and plants for environmental remediation. It also emphasized the importance of modern biotechnological techniques and approaches in improving the ability of microbial enzymes to effectively degrade heavy metals at a faster rate, highlighting recent advances in microbial bioremediation and phytoremediation for the removal of heavy metals from the environment as well as future prospects and limitations. However, strict adherence to biosafety regulations must be followed in the use of biotechnological methods to ensure safety of the environment.
Highlights
Pollution of the environment keeps on increasing at an alarming rate due to the activities of man such as urbanization, technological advancement, unsafe agricultural practices and rapid industrialization which degrades the environment
Phytoextraction is the most preferred method used by plants for remediation of polluted environments as it is enhanced by plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) associated with the plant roots
This review highlighted the effects of heavy metal contamination caused by some human activities on the environment, the possible health hazards, as well as the various mechanisms and enzymatic reactions used by plants and microbes to effectively remediate polluted environments
Summary
Pollution of the environment keeps on increasing at an alarming rate due to the activities of man such as urbanization, technological advancement, unsafe agricultural practices and rapid industrialization which degrades the environment. Heavy metals are cytotoxic at low concentrations and could lead to cancer in humans [3] These toxic metals could accumulate in the body when consumed in contaminated food through the food chain and become health risks to living organisms [4]. This causes oxidative stress, an unevenness involving the production of free radicals and the capacity of cells to eradicate them or repair the damage [5,6]. Heavy metal toxicity increases the production of ROS thereby decreasing the antioxidant systems (glutathione, superoxide dismutase, etc.) which protect cells If this condition continues, the normal functioning of the organism is affected and may invariably lead to cell death. The possible prospects and limitation of genetically modified organisms for bioremediation are discussed
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