Carbofuran toxicity and its microbial degradation in contaminated environments

Carbofuran is one of the most toxic broad-spectrum and systemic N-methyl carbamate pesticide, which is extensively applied as insecticide, nematicide and acaricide for agricultural, domestic and industrial purposes. It is extremely lethal to mammals, birds, fish and wildlife due to its anticholinesterase activity, which inhibits acetyl-cholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterse activity. In humans, carbofuran is associated with endocrine disrupting activity, reproductive disorders, cytotoxic and genotoxic abnormalities. Therefore, cleanup of carbofuran-contaminated environments is of utmost concern and urgently needs an adequate, advanced and effective remedial technology. Microbial technology (bacterial, fugal and algal species) is a very potent, pragmatic and ecofriendly approach for the removal of carbofuran. Microbial enzymes and their catabolic genes exhibit an exceptional potential for bioremediation strategies. To understand the specific mechanism of carbofuran degradation and involvement of carbofuran hydrolase enzymes and genes, highly efficient genomic approaches are required to provide reliable information and unfold metabolic pathways. This review briefly discusses the carbofuran toxicity and its toxicological impact into the environment, in-depth understanding of carbofuran degradation mechanism with microbial strains, metabolic pathways, molecular mechanisms and genetic basis involved in degradation.