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Review
. 2022 Mar;13(3):6420-6440.
doi: 10.1080/21655979.2022.2044250.

Exploring the role of microbial biofilm for industrial effluents treatment

Indranil Chattopadhyay  1 , Rajesh Banu J  1 , T M Mohamed Usman  2 , Sunita Varjani  3
Affiliations
Review

Exploring the role of microbial biofilm for industrial effluents treatment

Indranil Chattopadhyay et al. Bioengineered. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

Biofilm formation on biotic or abiotic surfaces is caused by microbial cells of a single or heterogeneous species. Biofilm protects microbes from stressful environmental conditions, toxic action of chemicals, and antimicrobial substances. Quorum sensing (QS) is the generation of autoinducers (AIs) by bacteria in a biofilm to communicate with one other. QS is responsible for the growth of biofilm, synthesis of exopolysaccharides (EPS), and bioremediation of environmental pollutants. EPS is used for wastewater treatment due to its three-dimensional matrix which is composed of proteins, polysaccharides, humic-like substances, and nucleic acids. Autoinducers mediate significantly the degradation of environmental pollutants. Acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) producing bacteria as well as quorum quenching enzyme or bacteria can effectively improve the performance of wastewater treatment. Biofilms-based reactors due to their economic and ecofriendly nature are used for the treatment of industrial wastewaters. Electrodes coated with electro-active biofilm (EAB) which are obtained from sewage sludge, activated sludge, or industrial and domestic effluents are getting popularity in bioremediation. Microbial fuel cells are involved in wastewater treatment and production of energy from wastewater. Synthetic biological systems such as genome editing by CRISPR-Cas can be used for the advanced bioremediation process through modification of metabolic pathways in quorum sensing within microbial communities. This narrative review discusses the impacts of QS regulatory approaches on biofilm formation, extracellular polymeric substance synthesis, and role of microbial community in bioremediation of pollutants from industrial effluents.

Keywords: Biofilm; autoinducers; bioremediation; electro-active biofilms (EABs); genome editing; quorum sensing.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Stages of bacterial biofilm development along with factors involved in controlling biofilm formation.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Syntrophic interaction in biofilms between fermentative bacteria and methanogenic archaea during anaerobic wastewater treatment.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Biochemical and biophysical characterization of biofilm (16S rRNA sequence analysis can be applied to determine the bacterial diversity in the biofilm).
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Schematics of moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) used for wastewater treatment.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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