Institute of Microbial Technology, Sector 39A, Chandigarh-160036, India.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2010;672:261-80. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4419-5979-9_20.
Biosurfactants are surface-active compounds synthesized by a wide variety of microorganisms. They are molecules that have both hydrophobic and hydrophilic domains and are capable of lowering the surface tension and the interfacial tension of the growth medium. Biosurfactants possess different chemical structures--lipopeptides, glycolipids, neutral lipids and fatty acids. They are nontoxic biomolecules that are biodegradable. Biosurfactants also exhibit strong emulsification of hydrophobic compounds and form stable emulsions. The low water solubility of these hydrophobic compounds limits their availability to microorganisms, which is a potential problem for bioremediation of contaminated sites. Microbially produced surfactants enhance the bioavailability of these hydrophobic compounds for bioremediation. Therefore, biosurfactant-enhanced solubility of pollutants has potential applications in bioremediation. Not only are the biosurfactants useful in a variety of industrial processes, they are also of vital importance to the microbes in adhesion, emulsification, bioavailability, desorption and defense strategy. These interesting facts are discussed in this chapter.
生物表面活性剂是由各种微生物合成的具有表面活性的化合物。它们是同时具有疏水和亲水部分的分子，能够降低生长介质的表面张力和界面张力。生物表面活性剂具有不同的化学结构——脂肽、糖脂、中性脂质和脂肪酸。它们是可生物降解的无毒生物分子。生物表面活性剂还能强烈乳化疏水性化合物并形成稳定的乳液。这些疏水性化合物的低水溶性限制了它们被微生物利用，这是污染场地生物修复的一个潜在问题。微生物产生的表面活性剂增强了这些疏水性化合物的生物利用度，从而有助于生物修复。因此，生物表面活性剂增强污染物的溶解度在生物修复中有潜在的应用。生物表面活性剂不仅在各种工业过程中有用，而且对微生物的附着、乳化、生物利用度、解吸和防御策略也至关重要。本章讨论了这些有趣的事实。
