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Updated: Oct 26, 2025

Bioprospecting of Extremophilic Microorganisms to Address Environmental Pollution
Published on: December 30, 2021
Plasmid-mediated catabolism for the removal of xenobiotics from the environment
Pankaj Bhatt1, Geeta Bhandari2, Kalpana Bhatt3
1State Key Laboratory for Conservation and Utilization of Subtropical Agro-bioresources, Guangdong Province Key Laboratory of Microbial Signals and Disease Control, Integrative Microbiology Research Centre, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou 510642, China; Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, Guangzhou 510642, China.
Abstract:
The large-scale application of xenobiotics adversely affects the environment. The genes that are present in the chromosome of the bacteria are considered nonmobile, whereas the genes present on the plasmids are considered mobile genetic elements. Plasmids are considered indispensable for xenobiotic degradation into the contaminated environment. In the contaminated sites, bacteria with plasmids can transfer the mobile genetic element into another strain. This mechanism helps in spreading the catabolic genes into the bacterial population at the contaminated sites. The indigenous microbial strains with such degradative plasmids are important for the bioremediation of xenobiotics. Environmental factors play a critical role in the conjugation efficiency, which is involved in the bioremediation of the xenobiotics at the contaminated sites. However, there is still a need for more research to fill in the gaps regarding plasmids and their impact on bioremediation. This review explores the role of bacterial plasmids in the bioremediation of xenobiotics from contaminated environments.
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