Microbial Biodegradation and Bioremediation brings together experts in relevant fields to describe the successful application of microbes and their derivatives for bioremediation of potentially toxic and relatively novel compounds. This single-source reference encompasses all categories of pollutants and their applications in a convenient, comprehensive package. Our natural biodiversity and environment is in danger due to the release of continuously emerging potential pollutants by anthropogenic activities. Though many attempts have been made to eradicate and remediate these noxious elements, every day thousands of xenobiotics of relatively new entities emerge, thus worsening the situation. Primitive microorganisms are highly adaptable to toxic environments, and can reduce the load of toxic elements by their successful transformation and remediation. Describes many novel approaches of microbial bioremediation including genetic engineering, metagenomics, microbial fuel cell technology, biosurfactants and biofilm-based bioremediation Introduces relatively new hazardous elements and their bioremediation practices including oil spills, military waste water, greenhouse gases, polythene wastes, and more Provides the most advanced techniques in the field of bioremediation, including insilico approach, microbes as pollution indicators, use of bioreactors, techniques of pollution monitoring, and more

Biodegradative Bacteria highlights the novel nature of bacterial cell functions in the field of biodegradation by putting them into three parts: (1) Genetic and genomic systems, (2) Degradative enzyme systems, and (3) Bacterial behavior in natural environmental systems. The first part of the book includes cell functions as degradative machinery, genome systems for effective degradation, and the evolution of degradative systems by mobile genetic elements. The second part deals with the structure, function, evolution, diversity, and application of degradative and related enzymes. The third part presents cell or genomic behaviors of biodegradative bacteria in natural ecosystems. Bacterial metabolic capacity, which plays an important role in the global material cycle, contributes significantly to the buffering capacity for the huge and unintended release of various chemicals. Recently, however, the prosperity and globalization of material civilization has led not only to severe local contamination by hazardous chemicals, but also to continuous increment of contaminant concentrations worldwide. To solve such urgent global issues, bacterial functions that are involved in biodegradation of hazardous chemicals have been analyzed. The term “biodegradative bacteria” refers to those bacteria that have the ability to degrade such xenobiotic (man-made) and/or hazardous chemicals. Analyses of biodegradative bacteria include diverse areas of study, such as genetics, enzymology, genomics, cell physiology, ecology, and evolutionary biology. In other words, the targets investigated in research on biodegradative bacteria include single molecules, single cell systems, bacterial consortia (interaction with surrounding microorganisms), and interaction with surrounding biotic and abiotic materials. Such complexity makes the research on biodegradative bacteria difficult but quite interesting.

In this volume, experts from universities, government labs and industry share their findings on the microbiological, biochemical and molecular aspects of biodegradation and bioremediation. The text covers numerous topics, including: bioavailability, biodegradation of various pollutants, microbial community dynamics, properties and engineering of important biocatalysts, and methods for monitoring bioremediation processes. Microbial processes are environmentally compatible and can be integrated with non-biological processes to detoxify, degrade and immobilize environmental contaminants.

In this timely book expert international authors critically review all of the most important topics in this exciting field. Although other books covering this are currently available, this book is unique in that it is the first to review the area from a molecular biology and genomics perspective. Topics covered include: aerobic and anaerobic biodegradation of aromatic compounds, molecular detection methods (e.g. microautoradiography, mRNA analyses, etc.), genome-based predictive modelling, elucidation of regulatory networks, bioavailability, chemotaxis and transport issues, functional genomic.

This new textbook offers an introduction to microbial physiology for students with a background in microbiology, physiology and biochemistry.