Microbial Peroxidases and Their Unique Catalytic Potentialities to Degrade Environmentally Related Pollutants

Abstract

Industrial sectors play an imperative role in the economic growth and development of any nation. Nevertheless, the discharge of industrial wastewater polluted by various textile dyes, pharmaceuticals, recalcitrant organic compounds, hormones, xenobiotic compounds (i.e., insecticides, pesticides, plastics, fertilizers, and hydrocarbons), and personal care products into the receiving water bodies seriously threatened the natural ecosystem owing to their extremely toxic consequences. This problem is pervasively increasing due to the lack of efficient waste management procedures for the proper disposal and treatment of waste. Considering the diverse nature of wastewater from industrial processes, designing a cost-competitive, efficient, and eco-friendlier technology with stable remediation performance has become a challenging task for the research investigators and environmental engineers. In the past couple of decades, environmental biotechnology has witnessed a tremendous upsurge in exploring some judicious substitutes to the existing technologies for waste management. Conventionally, in practice, approaches dealing with wastewater remediation such as chemical, physical, and biological methods are either inefficient or restrictive due to techno-economic constraints. In this perspective, enzyme-assisted treatment is a rapid, easy, eco-sustainable approach and therefore has been keenly explored to degrade and mineralize an array of xenobiotic and recalcitrant organic contaminants. Peroxidases isolated and characterized by different microbial or plant-based natural resources have demonstrated great bioremediation potential. Genetic engineering and enzyme immobilization approaches have made it possible to produce a significant amount of recombinant enzymes and upgrade the half-life, catalytic stability, and activity of the biocatalyst, respectively. Moreover, the development of nanozymes might display the potential remediation capability toward a wide variety of toxic pollutants. In this chapter, we have presented a comprehensive overview of the peroxidases and advanced enzyme tools and technologies, i.e., immobilized enzyme-based constructs, nanozymes as robust catalytic tools, and genetic engineering along with their use in the degradation and detoxification of toxic substances, human-health related hazardous compounds, carcinogenic and mutagenic entities, and environmentally related contaminants of high concern.