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Review
. 2023 Aug 31;12(17):3147.
doi: 10.3390/plants12173147.

Recent Advances in Microbial-Assisted Remediation of Cadmium-Contaminated Soil

Usman Zulfiqar  1 , Fasih Ullah Haider  2   3 , Muhammad Faisal Maqsood  4 , Waqas Mohy-Ud-Din  5   6   7 , Muhammad Shabaan  8 , Muhammad Ahmad  9 , Muhammad Kaleem  10 , Muhammad Ishfaq  9   11 , Zoya Aslam  12 , Babar Shahzad  13
Affiliations
Review

Recent Advances in Microbial-Assisted Remediation of Cadmium-Contaminated Soil

Usman Zulfiqar et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

Soil contamination with cadmium (Cd) is a severe concern for the developing world due to its non-biodegradability and significant potential to damage the ecosystem and associated services. Industries such as mining, manufacturing, building, etc., rapidly produce a substantial amount of Cd, posing environmental risks. Cd toxicity in crop plants decreases nutrient and water uptake and translocation, increases oxidative damage, interferes with plant metabolism and inhibits plant morphology and physiology. However, various conventional physicochemical approaches are available to remove Cd from the soil, including chemical reduction, immobilization, stabilization and electro-remediation. Nevertheless, these processes are costly and unfriendly to the environment because they require much energy, skilled labor and hazardous chemicals. In contrasting, contaminated soils can be restored by using bioremediation techniques, which use plants alone and in association with different beneficial microbes as cutting-edge approaches. This review covers the bioremediation of soils contaminated with Cd in various new ways. The bioremediation capability of bacteria and fungi alone and in combination with plants are studied and analyzed. Microbes, including bacteria, fungi and algae, are reported to have a high tolerance for metals, having a 98% bioremediation capability. The internal structure of microorganisms, their cell surface characteristics and the surrounding environmental circumstances are all discussed concerning how microbes detoxify metals. Moreover, issues affecting the effectiveness of bioremediation are explored, along with potential difficulties, solutions and prospects.

Keywords: bioremediation; cadmium toxicity; mechanism; microbes; recent advancements.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Factors affecting cadmium speciation in soil, and its toxic impacts on plant physiology, morphology and metabolism.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Microbially mediated direct mechanisms for contaminant detoxification.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Microbially mediated indirect mechanisms for contaminant detoxification.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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