Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Microbial degradation of contaminants of emerging concern: metabolic, genetic and omics insights for enhanced bioremediation

This review covers how microorganisms have evolved the ability to break down emerging pollutants including plasticizers, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides, turning them into less harmful substances. Understanding the genes, enzymes, and metabolic pathways these microbes use could lead to cost-effective, eco-friendly cleanup methods for removing persistent contaminants -- including plastic-derived chemicals -- from the environment before they reach people.

2024 Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology 27 citations
Article Tier 2

Bioremediation Techniques for Water and Soil Pollution: Review

This review covers bioremediation techniques that use microorganisms to break down pollutants in water and soil, including microplastics, heavy metals, and pharmaceutical residues. Researchers highlight how bacteria, fungi, and algae can be harnessed to degrade plastic waste and other contaminants through natural biological processes. The study suggests that bioremediation offers a promising, environmentally friendly approach to tackling pollution, though more research is needed to optimize these techniques for real-world application.

2025 Natural and Engineering Sciences 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Eco‐Friendly Solutions to Emerging Contaminants: Unveiling the Potential of Bioremediation in Tackling Microplastic Pollution in Water

This review examines bioremediation -- using microorganisms to break down microplastics in water -- as a greener alternative to costly physical and chemical removal methods. While certain bacteria and fungi show real promise in degrading plastics like polyethylene and polystyrene, challenges remain in scaling these approaches. Reducing microplastics in water is important because contaminated water is one of the main ways these particles reach humans.

2024 Advanced Sustainable Systems 23 citations
Article Tier 2

Application of microalgae in wastewater treatment with special reference to emerging contaminants: a step towards sustainability

This review highlights how various microalgae species can help remove emerging contaminants from wastewater, including microplastics, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, and harmful chemicals. The organisms use mechanisms like biosorption, bioaccumulation, and biodegradation to break down or capture these pollutants. The authors connect these microalgae-based treatment technologies to broader sustainability goals, while noting that scaling from lab to industrial applications remains a challenge.

2024 Frontiers in Analytical Science 24 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Microplastics on the frontline: causes, strategies to combat pollution and protect health with advanced bioremediation—a review

This systematic review examines how microplastics carry toxic chemicals like heavy metals and persistent pollutants into the food chain, ultimately reaching humans. It also explores promising bioremediation approaches — using bacteria and enzymes to break down microplastics — as a potential strategy to reduce exposure.

2026 Journal of Environmental Science and Health Part A
Article Tier 2

Unlocking secrets of microbial ecotoxicology: recent achievements and future challenges

This review explores how microorganisms interact with environmental pollutants, including microplastics, covering how bacteria can break down pollutants but are also harmed by them. The authors highlight that microplastics create new surfaces in the environment where bacteria form communities, potentially spreading harmful species or antibiotic resistance. Understanding these microbial interactions is critical for developing nature-based solutions to reduce pollution and protect human health.

2023 FEMS Microbiology Ecology 30 citations
Article Tier 2

Genetically engineered organisms for sustainable bioremediation of polluted environments

This research review summarizes how scientists are using genetically modified organisms (like bacteria and plants) to clean up pollution in water, soil, and air by breaking down harmful substances including microplastics and heavy metals. These modified organisms can be engineered to eat or neutralize specific pollutants more effectively than natural organisms, offering a promising eco-friendly way to tackle environmental contamination. This matters for human health because cleaner environments mean less exposure to toxic chemicals and pollutants that can cause disease.

2026 Biodegradation
Article Tier 2

Application of green microbiology for microplastic remediation: Current progress and future perspectives

This review explores how microorganisms, including bacteria and fungi, can be harnessed to break down microplastic pollution through environmentally friendly biodegradation approaches. Researchers summarized current progress in identifying plastic-degrading microbes and the enzymes they use. The study highlights the promise of green microbiology as a sustainable strategy for tackling microplastic contamination, while noting that significant technical challenges remain.

2024 Environmental Advances 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Emerging Environmental Contaminats of High Concern: Trends, Potential Sources, Friendly Treatment Technologies and Future Prospects

This review examines sources, environmental behavior, and health effects of emerging environmental contaminants -- including microplastics, pharmaceuticals, and industrial chemicals -- along with promising treatment technologies for their removal from water and soil.

2024 Preprints.org
Review Tier 2

Advances in Chemotactic and Non-chemotactic Bioremediation of Water: A Comprehensive Review

This review surveys both conventional and microbial-based approaches for cleaning up water contaminated by industrial and agricultural pollutants. Bioremediation is highlighted as the most eco-friendly option, using bacteria and other microorganisms to break down a wide range of waste types including plastics, heavy metals, and organic chemicals. The review identifies remaining challenges and promising directions for scaling up bioremediation in real-world applications.

2022 Applied Environmental Research 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as vectors of other contaminants: Analytical determination techniques and remediation methods

This review examines how microplastics act as carriers for other pollutants, absorbing harmful organic and inorganic chemicals from the environment. It covers the latest methods for detecting and identifying microplastics in different settings, as well as promising cleanup approaches like microbial degradation. The findings underscore that microplastics may be more dangerous than the plastic itself because of the toxic hitchhikers they carry into the food chain and water supply.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 48 citations
Article Tier 2

Bioremediation of environmental wastes: the role of microorganisms

This review discusses how bacteria, fungi, and algae can be used to clean up environmental pollution including plastic waste, heavy metals, and pesticides through a process called bioremediation. These biological cleanup methods are relevant to microplastic pollution because certain microorganisms may be able to break down plastic particles in contaminated soil and water.

2023 Frontiers in Agronomy 315 citations
Article Tier 2

Ecotoxicity of microplastic wastes and their sustainable management: A review

This review summarizes how microplastics damage ecosystems when organisms ingest them and absorb the toxic chemicals they carry, and examines microbial remediation as an emerging solution. Bacteria and fungi that can break down plastics offer a more environmentally friendly approach to reducing microplastic pollution, which is important because up to 14 million tons of plastic waste enters the oceans each year and enters the human food chain.

2024 Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology 67 citations
Article Tier 2

The Occurrence of Micropollutants in the Aquatic Environment and Technologies for Their Removal

This review summarizes the growing problem of micropollutants in water, including microplastics, pharmaceuticals, and industrial chemicals, and evaluates advanced treatment methods to remove them. The research is important for human health because conventional water treatment plants cannot effectively filter out these contaminants, meaning people may be regularly exposed through tap water.

2025 Processes 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Emerging micropollutants in aquatic ecosystems and nanotechnology-based removal alternatives: A review

This review examines emerging micropollutants in water systems, including microplastics, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and heavy metals, and how nanotechnology-based approaches can help remove them. These contaminants threaten drinking water safety and aquatic ecosystems worldwide. The paper evaluates various nanomaterial-based filtration and degradation methods as promising solutions for cleaning up contaminated water.

2023 Chemosphere 98 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Bioremediation of microplastic pollution: A systematic review on mechanism, analytical methods, innovations, and omics approaches

Researchers systematically reviewed how bacteria, fungi, and algae can break down microplastics through enzymes and biofilms, and how cutting-edge tools like genomics and genetically engineered microbes are improving biodegradation efficiency. While microbial bioremediation is a promising sustainable approach to microplastic pollution, challenges around scalability and varying degradation rates in real environments still need to be overcome.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Potential strategies for bioremediation of microplastic contaminated soil

Researchers reviewed emerging bioremediation strategies for removing microplastics from contaminated soil, highlighting the roles of plants, root-zone microbes, soil animals like earthworms, and specialized bacteria and fungi that can use enzymes to break down plastic polymers into harmless compounds. While genetic engineering of microbes shows promise for accelerating degradation, the review notes that real-world application at scale still requires significant research and development.

2024 Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology 47 citations
Article Tier 2

Engineering a Solution: Recent Technological Advances in the Microbial Bioremediation of Microplastics

This review examines recent advances in microbial bioremediation of microplastics, highlighting the limitations of conventional treatments and presenting biological alternatives using bacteria, fungi, and algae capable of degrading plastic polymers. The authors discuss key enzymatic mechanisms and the potential for scaling microbial approaches as sustainable remediation tools for plastic pollution.

2025 SPIRE - Sciences Po Institutional REpository
Article Tier 2

Recent trends in bioremediation and bioaugmentation strategies for mitigation of marine based pollutants: current perspectives and future outlook

This review evaluates recent advances in bioremediation and bioaugmentation strategies for addressing marine pollution from microplastics, hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and pesticides. Researchers highlight progress in developing tailored microbial consortia, genetically engineered degradation agents, and nano-enabled remediation approaches informed by omics tools. The study notes that while significant advances have been made, scaling these biological approaches to handle complex pollutant mixtures in real ocean conditions remains a major challenge.

2024 Discover Sustainability 18 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental geochemistry of emerging contaminants: impacts on agroecosystem function, food security, and human health

This review examines how emerging contaminants including microplastics, PFAS, pharmaceuticals, and engineered nanomaterials threaten agricultural ecosystems and food safety. Researchers found that these pollutants persist in soil, accumulate in crops, and disrupt beneficial soil organisms, creating complex risks that are difficult to manage with current approaches. The study emphasizes the urgent need for integrated monitoring and remediation strategies to protect both food production and human health.

2026 Environmental Geochemistry and Health 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Recent Application of Enzymes and Microbes in Bioremediation

This review covers recent advances in applying enzymes and microorganisms for bioremediation of environmental pollutants, including microplastics, with a focus on eco-friendly alternatives to conventional chemical or physical treatment methods. The authors highlight promising microbial and enzymatic strategies that reduce secondary pollution and offer cost-effective pathways for cleaning contaminated soil and water.

2024 African Journal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Research
Article Tier 2

A critical review on advanced molecular tools for bioremediation

This critical review examined advanced molecular tools being developed for bioremediation of environmental pollutants, including microplastics, pesticides, heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds. The study highlights how emerging genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic techniques are improving the effectiveness of biological approaches to breaking down persistent contaminants in the environment.

2026 Frontiers in Environmental Science
Article Tier 2

Microbial mechanisms as tools for monitoring and treating emerging contaminants in urban pollution: an overview

This review examines the role of microorganisms in detecting, monitoring, and degrading emerging contaminants including microplastics in urban environments. The study highlights that bacteria and fungi can serve as both sensitive bioindicators of pollution and active agents for biodegradation, suggesting that microbial-based strategies hold promise for sustainable environmental remediation.

2026 Archives of Microbiology
Article Tier 2

The trend of bioremediation as an effective technology in soil decontamination

Not relevant to microplastics — this review covers bioremediation techniques using bacteria, fungi, and plants to clean up soil contaminated with hydrocarbons, pesticides, and heavy metals.

2023 Seven Editora eBooks 1 citations