Chapter 82 : Overview: Biotransformation and Biodegradation

Abstract:

Biotransformation and biodegradation have been active areas of research since the very beginnings of microbiology and particularly since the beginning of the industrial revolution in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, when the first of many thousands of anthropogenic chemicals began to be introduced into the environment. Much of the historical work in these areas has involved the study of pure cultures of microorganisms isolated by enrichment culture for their abilities to degrade or transform a particular chemical. Many elegant methods employing biochemical, physiological, and/or genetic approaches have been developed over the decades to elucidate the intricate and evolutionarily beautiful pathways employed by such pure cultures to degrade or transform natural and anthropogenic chemicals.