Microbial degradation of nitroaromatics and their halogenated derivatives

Abstract:

Nitroaromatic compounds are important chemical materials and wildly used in the chemical syntheses of pharmaceuticals, dyes and pesticides. Inevitably, as hazardous pollutants, nitroaromatic compounds have been extensively introduced into our surrounding environments because of anthropogenic activities. Microorganisms play an important role in degrading these recalcitrant contaminants. In the past decades, microbial degradation of nitroaromatics has been investigated extensively, leading to dramatic progress in understanding the microbial strategies and associated mechanisms for the degradation of these pollutants. Here we present an integrated review of the bacterial degradation of nitroaromatic compounds and their halogenated derivatives in the catabolic pathway and mechanism, microbial chemotaxis, together with bioremediation of nitroaromatics-contaminated environment. In addition, we propose future research. This review will increase our current understanding of the microbial degradation process of these toxic and recalcitrant pollutants.