Microbial co-metabolism in the degradation of emerging organic pollutants

The increasing detection of emerging organic pollutants (EOPs) in the environment raises concerns about ecological impacts and human health risks, requiring urgent research on degradation pathways and environmental fate. Microbial degradation of EOPs often proceeds concurrently with the metabolism of other pollutants and typically manifests as a co-metabolic process in environmental media. Studying the mechanism of co-metabolism can realistically simulate environmental conditions and elucidate the behavioral mechanisms and ecological impacts of EOPs. This study aims to elucidate the mechanisms of pollutant metabolism and co-metabolic degradation at the molecular level, with a focus on identifying and characterizing the key enzyme systems in metabolic and co-metabolic pathways. Based on these findings, it further proposes key regulatory parameters and engineering strategies to optimize the metabolic and co-metabolic processes, thereby laying a solid theoretical and technical foundation for the development of bioremediation technologies with high specificity, high efficiency, and environmental compatibility. Moreover, by elucidating the microbial metabolism and co-metabolism processes, this work provides innovative research ideas and methodological support for developing advanced bioremediation technologies, facilitating the green and sustainable treatment of environmental pollutants.