The Use of Enzymes in Bioremediation of Soil Xenobiotics
A. Piotrowska-Długosz
2017
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8
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Semantic Scholar
Key Takeaway Key Takeaway: Enzymes show potential in soil bioremediation, offering low-energy, easy-to-control, and minimal environmental impact for transforming soil xenobiotics into innocuous products.
Abstract
Environmental pollution with toxic compounds has become one of the biggest ecological problems of the world today. Therefore, there is a growing interest in developing new, cost-effective, and eco-friendly remediation technologies that are capable of the partial or total recovery of a polluted environment, with particular emphasis on soils. Bioremediation that uses the catabolic potential of microorganisms can be efficiently used to clean up certain pollutants, but for chemicals that exhibit a high xenobiotic character (polyaromatic hydrocarbons, chlorophenols, dioxins) microorganisms can be ineffective. Among biological agents, enzymes have a great potential to effectively transform and detoxify soil pollutants. The use of enzymes may represent a good alternative for overcoming most of the disadvantages related to the use of microorganisms. They can be used under extreme conditions that limit microbial activity and are effective at low pollutant concentrations. Enzymatic methods generally have low-energy requirements, are easy to control, and have a minimal environmental impact. This review has examined the possibility of using enzymes as an element of soil bioremediation technology and the main requirements that must be fulfilled when using this type of technology. Moreover, some classes of enzymes, mainly oxidoreductases and hydrolases, which are capable of transforming soil xenobiotics into innocuous products effectively, are characterized. Both plant-derived and microbial enzymes are discussed and special attention was paid to laccases, peroxidases, tyrosinases, lipases, proteases, and phosphotriesterases as well as to nitrile- and cyanide-degrading enzymes, which have a great potential to transform xenobiotic compounds. The main advantages as well as the disadvantages of the application of enzymes in the bioremediation of polluted soils are specified. Finally, the future perspective for the in situ application of enzymes in bioremediation of polluted environment is presented.