Progress in bioremediation of organic contaminated soil based on microbiome

Abstract

There are a variety of toxic and widely distributed organic contaminants in soils, threatening ecological safety and human health. Bioremediation technology primarily addresses soil pollutants through enzymatic reactions of microorganisms. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of bioremediation technology is much lower when treating contaminated soils with multiple organic pollutants. The combination between microbiome technology and bioremedia-tion is one of the hot topics in the research area of soil remediation. In recent years, there are rapid progresses in bioremediation research based on genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics. Based on technology of genomics, the composition of soil microorganisms could be analyzed, identified, eliminated, and finally functional microbiome can be screened. Consequently, functional microbiome could be constructed and targeted according to the characteristics of organic pollutants. Transcriptomics could help discover unknown functional genes, and explore new pathways for organic pollutant degradation. Proteomics and metabolomics would help improve the degradation efficiency of organic pollutants. We reviewed the challenges in bioremediation of organic-contaminated soil, analyzed microbiome methods being used in bioremediation, and examined the principles and effectiveness of microbiome-based bioremediation with empirical studies. Currently, omics technology is still at its early stage in the field of organic soil contamination bioremediation, with more crucial data being needed. Utilizing microbiome methods for molecular operations, innovating organic-contaminated soil bioremediation systems and elucidating the restoration mechanisms will be the key for efficient application of bioremediation technologies.

Keywords: bioremediation; microbiome; organic contaminant; soil.