Abstract
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are typical lasting organic pollutants. Persistence and recalcitrance to biodegradation of PCBs have hampered the transformation of PCB congeners from the environment. Biological transformation of polychlorinated biphenyls could take place through anaerobic dechlorination, aerobic microbial degradation, and a combination of transformation of anaerobic dechlorination and aerobic degradation. Under anaerobic conditions, microbial dechlorination is an important degradation mode for PCBs, especially high-chlorinated congeners. The low-chlorinated compounds formed after reductive dechlorination could be further aerobically degraded and completely mineralized. This paper reviews the recent advances in biological degradation of PCBs, introduces the functional bacteria and enzymes involved in the anaerobic and aerobic degradation of PCBs, and discusses the synergistic action of anaerobic reduction and aerobic degradation. In addition, the different ways to the microbial remediation of PCBs-contaminated environments are discussed. This review provides a theoretical foundation and practical basis to use PCBs-degrading microorganisms for bioremediation.
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This work was funded by the National Natural Science Fund of China (41671317), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (KYYJ202002), and the Jiangsu Agriculture Science and Technology Innovation Fund (CX(18)1005).
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Xiang, Y., Xing, Z., Liu, J. et al. Recent advances in the biodegradation of polychlorinated biphenyls. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 36, 145 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-020-02922-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-020-02922-2