Verma Neelam, Sharma Rajni
Department of Biotechnology, Punjabi University, Patiala-147 002, Punjab. India.
Biosensor Technology Laboratory, Department of Biotechnology, Punjabi University, Patiala-147002. India.
Recent Pat Biotechnol. 2017;11(3):171-187. doi: 10.2174/1872208311666170111111631.
The global industrialization is fulfilling the demands of modern population at the cost of environmental exposure to various contaminants including heavy metals. These heavy metals affect water and soil quality. Moreover, these enter into the food chain and exhibit their lethal effects on the human health even when present at slightly higher concentration than required for normal metabolism. To the worst of their part, the heavy metals may become carcinogenic. Henceforth, the efficient removal of heavy metals is the demand of sustainable development. Remedy: Bioremediation is the 'green' imperative technique for the heavy metal removal without creating secondary metabolites in the ecosystem. The metabolic potential of several bacterial, algal, fungal as well as plant species has the efficiency to exterminate the heavy metals from the contaminated sites. Different strategies like bioaccumulation, biosorption, biotransformation, rhizofilteration, bioextraction and volatilization are employed for removal of heavy metals by the biological species. Bioremediation approach is presenting a splendid alternate for conventional expensive and inefficient methods for the heavy metal removal.
The patents granted on the bioremediation of toxic heavy metals are summarized in the present manuscript which supported the applicability of bioremediation technique at commercial scale. However, the implementation of the present information and advanced research are mandatory to further explore the concealed potential of biological species to resume the originality of the environment.
全球工业化正在以环境暴露于包括重金属在内的各种污染物为代价来满足现代人口的需求。这些重金属影响水和土壤质量。此外，它们进入食物链，即使其浓度仅略高于正常新陈代谢所需浓度，也会对人类健康产生致命影响。最糟糕的是，重金属可能具有致癌性。因此，有效去除重金属是可持续发展的需求。
生物修复是去除重金属的“绿色”必要技术，不会在生态系统中产生次生代谢产物。几种细菌、藻类、真菌以及植物物种的代谢潜力有能力从受污染场地消除重金属。生物物种采用生物积累、生物吸附、生物转化、根际过滤、生物提取和挥发等不同策略来去除重金属。生物修复方法为传统的昂贵且低效的重金属去除方法提供了绝佳替代方案。
本手稿总结了已授予的关于有毒重金属生物修复的专利，这些专利支持了生物修复技术在商业规模上的适用性。然而，必须实施当前信息并开展进一步研究，以进一步探索生物物种隐藏的潜力，恢复环境的原始状态。
