Abstract
Release of wide range of compounds as a consequence of industrial development is now a serious environmental problem. Numerous hazardous waste sites have been generated worldwide resulting from the accumulation of xenobiotics in soil and water. Aromatic compounds constitute a large and diverse group of chemicals that are responsible for causing widespread environmental pollution. Among them halogenated aromatic hydrocarbons are very stable to undergo degradation due to resonance energy and inertness of carbon-halogen, carbon-hydrogen and carbon-carbon covalent bonds. The physico-chemical remedial strategies to clean up sites contaminated by these compounds are inadequate and economically inefficient. Therefore, research is increasingly being focused on development of biological approaches for their remediation. The hunt for the microorganisms degrading halogenated aromatic pollutants has been successful in discovering a diverse range of aerobic, anaerobic and phototrophic bacteria. The bacteria mineralize the toxic halogenated pollutants into harmless products thereby contributing towards conservation of the environment quality.
Highlights
Halogenated Aromatic Pollutants Chlorinated Aromatic PollutantsChlorinated aromatic compounds are major environmental pollutants because they are often released in substantial quantities, are toxic and resistant to degradation, and accumulate in sediment and biota
Chlorinated phenols are used as wood preservatives, herbicides, fungicides, and general biocides are a large group of toxic xenobiotics that are serious environmental pollutants [3,4,5]
A unique property of this bacterium is that it does not need a cosubstrate for growth on the chlorinated compound, which is in contrast to previously described anaerobic phototrophic bacteria [17,19]
Summary
Chlorinated aromatic compounds are major environmental pollutants because they are often released in substantial quantities, are toxic and resistant to degradation, and accumulate in sediment and biota. Some compounds are degraded only slowly by soil and aquatic microorganisms, others are metabolized relatively quickly. Some of the chlorinated aromatic compounds include chlorotoluene, chlorobenzenes chlorobenzoates, chlorophenols, 4-chlorophenylacetate and chlorophenoxyacetates [1]. Chlorinated phenols are used as wood preservatives, herbicides, fungicides, and general biocides are a large group of toxic xenobiotics that are serious environmental pollutants [3,4,5]. Chlorinated derivatives of phenoxyacetates, such as Dichlorophenoxy acetic acid (2, 4-D) and 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2, 4, 5-T), have been released into the environment as herbicides over the past 40 years [6]. Unlike many of the recalcitrant synthetic compounds, 2, 4-D is rapidly degraded by soil microorganisms [7]
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