Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Dec 23:12:791723.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.791723. eCollection 2021.

Tapping the Role of Microbial Biosurfactants in Pesticide Remediation: An Eco-Friendly Approach for Environmental Sustainability

Aman Raj  1 , Ashwani Kumar  1   2 , Joanna Felicity Dames  2
Affiliations
Review

Tapping the Role of Microbial Biosurfactants in Pesticide Remediation: An Eco-Friendly Approach for Environmental Sustainability

Aman Raj et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

Pesticides are used indiscriminately all over the world to protect crops from pests and pathogens. If they are used in excess, they contaminate the soil and water bodies and negatively affect human health and the environment. However, bioremediation is the most viable option to deal with these pollutants, but it has certain limitations. Therefore, harnessing the role of microbial biosurfactants in pesticide remediation is a promising approach. Biosurfactants are the amphiphilic compounds that can help to increase the bioavailability of pesticides, and speeds up the bioremediation process. Biosurfactants lower the surface area and interfacial tension of immiscible fluids and boost the solubility and sorption of hydrophobic pesticide contaminants. They have the property of biodegradability, low toxicity, high selectivity, and broad action spectrum under extreme pH, temperature, and salinity conditions, as well as a low critical micelle concentration (CMC). All these factors can augment the process of pesticide remediation. Application of metagenomic and in-silico tools would help by rapidly characterizing pesticide degrading microorganisms at a taxonomic and functional level. A comprehensive review of the literature shows that the role of biosurfactants in the biological remediation of pesticides has received limited attention. Therefore, this article is intended to provide a detailed overview of the role of various biosurfactants in improving pesticide remediation as well as different methods used for the detection of microbial biosurfactants. Additionally, this article covers the role of advanced metagenomics tools in characterizing the biosurfactant producing pesticide degrading microbes from different environments.

Keywords: amphiphilic; bioremediation; biosurfactants; hydrophobic; metagenomics; pesticides.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
(A) Shows the pesticide application in the field and its fate in the environment leading to contamination of air, water, and soil along with screening and isolation of microbes residing at the contaminated site for biosurfactant production (B) presented the mechanism of biosurfactant mediated pesticides degradation.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Pesticide use in India (2020–21), [Unit: Metric tons (M.T)]. Pie-chart representing the average usage of pesticide by different Indian states in the year 2020–21. Highest usage among the states for which the pie-chart is made has been noted for Maharashtra with average usage of 13,243 M.T. while lowest for Andaman and Nicobar island with 1 M.T. Data were taken from statistical database of government of India, directorate of plant protection, quarantine and storage (Statistical Database | Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage | GOI, 2021).
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Structure of biosurfactant.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
In-vitro isolation of biosurfactant and its application at pesticide-contaminated sites. Further steps indicate the adsorption of biosurfactant with the soil-pesticide complex leading to desorption of pesticides from the soil particles. Microbial surfactants precipitate from the pesticide-biosurfactant complex, making pesticides bioavailable for the microbes for their further degradation.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Interaction of biosurfactant with pesticides and the microbes.
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
Metagenomics workflow of biosurfactant producing microbes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abbasi H., Hamedi M. M., Lotfabad T. B., Zahiri H. S., Sharafi H., Masoomi F., et al. (2012). Biosurfactant-producing bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa MA01 isolated from spoiled apples: physicochemical and structural characteristics of isolated biosurfactant. J. Biosci. Bioeng. 113 211–219. 10.1016/j.jbiosc.2011.10.002 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Abdul Salam J., Das N. (2013). Enhanced biodegradation of lindane using oil-in-water bio-microemulsion stabilized by biosurfactant produced by a new yeast strain, Pseudozyma VITJzN01. J. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 23 1598–1609. 10.4014/jmb.1307.07016 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Abouseoud M., Maachi R., Amrane A., Boudergua S., Nabi A. (2008). Evaluation of different carbon and nitrogen sources in production of biosurfactant by Pseudomonas fluorescens. Desalination 223 143–151. 10.1016/j.desal.2007.01.198 - DOI
    1. Adetunji A. I., Olaniran A. O. (2021). Production and potential biotechnological applications of microbial surfactants: an overview. Saudi J. Biol. Sci. 28 669–679. 10.1016/J.SJBS.2020.10.058 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Aguila-Torres P., Maldonado J., Gaete A., Figueroa J., González A., Miranda R., et al. (2020). Biochemical and genomic characterization of the cypermethrin-degrading and biosurfactant-producing bacterial strains isolated from marine sediments of the Chilean Northern Patagonia. Mar. Drugs 18:252. 10.3390/md18050252 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources