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      Environmental Applications of Biosurfactants: Recent Advances

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          Abstract

          Increasing public awareness of environmental pollution influences the search and development of technologies that help in clean up of organic and inorganic contaminants such as hydrocarbons and metals. An alternative and eco-friendly method of remediation technology of environments contaminated with these pollutants is the use of biosurfactants and biosurfactant-producing microorganisms. The diversity of biosurfactants makes them an attractive group of compounds for potential use in a wide variety of industrial and biotechnological applications. The purpose of this review is to provide a comprehensive overview of advances in the applications of biosurfactants and biosurfactant-producing microorganisms in hydrocarbon and metal remediation technologies.

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          Microbial biosurfactants production, applications and future potential.

          Ibrahim M Banat, Andrea Franzetti, Isabella Gandolfi … (2010)
          Microorganisms synthesise a wide range of surface-active compounds (SAC), generally called biosurfactants. These compounds are mainly classified according to their molecular weight, physico-chemical properties and mode of action. The low-molecular-weight SACs or biosurfactants reduce the surface tension at the air/water interfaces and the interfacial tension at oil/water interfaces, whereas the high-molecular-weight SACs, also called bioemulsifiers, are more effective in stabilising oil-in-water emulsions. Biosurfactants are attracting much interest due to their potential advantages over their synthetic counterparts in many fields spanning environmental, food, biomedical, and other industrial applications. Their large-scale application and production, however, are currently limited by the high cost of production and by limited understanding of their interactions with cells and with the abiotic environment. In this paper, we review the current knowledge and the latest advances in biosurfactant applications and the biotechnological strategies being developed for improving production processes and future potential.
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            Microbial resistance to metals in the environment.

            M R Bruins, S Kapil, F W Oehme (2000)
            Many microorganisms demonstrate resistance to metals in water, soil and industrial waste. Genes located on chromosomes, plasmids, or transposons encode specific resistance to a variety of metal ions. Some metals, such as cobalt, copper, nickel, serve as micronutrients and are used for redox processes, to stabilize molecules through electrostatic interactions, as components of various enzymes, and for regulation of osmotic pressure. Most metals are nonessential, have no nutrient value, and are potentially toxic to microorganisms. These toxic metals interact with essential cellular components through covalent and ionic bonding. At high levels, both essential and nonessential metals can damage cell membranes, alter enzyme specificity, disrupt cellular functions, and damage the structure of DNA. Microorganisms have adapted to the presence of both nutrient and nonessential metals by developing a variety of resistance mechanisms. Six metal resistance mechanisms exist: exclusion by permeability barrier, intra- and extra-cellular sequestration, active transport efflux pumps, enzymatic detoxification, and reduction in the sensitivity of cellular targets to metal ions. The understanding of how microorganisms resist metals can provide insight into strategies for their detoxification or removal from the environment. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.
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              Environmental applications for biosurfactants.

              Catherine N. Mulligan (2005)
              Biosurfactants are surfactants that are produced extracellularly or as part of the cell membrane by bacteria, yeasts and fungi. Examples include Pseudomonas aeruginosa which produces rhamnolipids, Candida (formerly Torulopsis) bombicola, one of the few yeasts to produce biosurfactants, which produces high yields of sophorolipids from vegetable oils and sugars and Bacillus subtilis which produces a lipopeptide called surfactin. This review includes environmental applications of these biosurfactants for soil and water treatment. Biosurfactant applications in the environmental industries are promising due to their biodegradability, low toxicity and effectiveness in enhancing biodegradation and solubilization of low solubility compounds. However, more information is needed to be able to predict and model their behaviour. Full scale tests will be required. The role of biosurfactants in natural attenuation processes has not been determined. Very little information is available concerning the influence of soil components on the remediation process with biosurfactants. As most of the research until now has been performed with rhamnolipids, other biosurfactants need to be investigated as they may have more promising properties.
              Article 0 comments Cited 245 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Int J Mol Sci
                Journal ID (publisher-id): ijms
                Title: International Journal of Molecular Sciences
                Publisher: Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)
                ISSN (Electronic): 1422-0067
                Publication date Collection: 2011
                Publication date (Electronic): 18 January 2011
                Volume: 12
                Issue: 1
                Pages: 633-654
                Affiliations
                [1 ] Department of Microbiology, Silesian University, Jagiellońska 28 street, 40-032 Katowice, Poland; E-Mails: mpacwa@ 123456us.edu.pl (M.P.-P.); zofia.piotrowska-seget@ 123456us.edu.pl (Z.P.-S.)
                [2 ] Department of Environmental Microbiology, Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas, Kossutha 6 street, 40-844 Katowice, Poland
                [3 ] Institute of Microbial Technology, Sector 39A, Chandigarh-160036, India; E-Mail: ssc@ 123456imtech.res.in
                Author notes
                * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: pla@ 123456ietu.katowice.pl ; Tel.: +48-322546031(246); Fax: +48-322541717.
                Article
                Publisher ID: ijms-12-00633
                DOI: 10.3390/ijms12010633
                PMC ID: 3039971
                PubMed ID: 21340005
                SO-VID: ff43830c-8ec0-470e-9fac-9bef02b9d7c2
                Copyright © © 2011 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland.
                License:

                This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

                History
                Date received : 30 November 2010
                Date revision received : 8 December 2010
                Date accepted : 10 January 2011
                Categories
                Subject: Review

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Molecular biology
                Keywords: remediation technologies,metals,biosurfactants,hydrocarbons
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Molecular biology
                Keywords: remediation technologies, metals, biosurfactants, hydrocarbons

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