Abstract
The concept of “Geobiotechnology ” emerges from the widely accepted roles that microorganisms play in global biogeochemical cycles in the earth’s ecosystem and their unique characteristics which are often utilized for industrial applications such as enzymes and chemical production, waste treatment and recycling, bioremediation of industrial pollutants in soils and aquifers, enhanced oil recovery, biomining, and soil fertility. Biotechnology has become an important tool for manipulating and utilizing microorganisms and plants and providing new approaches in various industries including petroleum, food, feed, pharmaceutical, detergent, and pulp and paper. New strains are continuously being explored and genetic or enzymatic functions are often reconstructed through molecular recombination and protein engineering techniques to increase the gene expression and metabolic productivity of industrially important organisms. A brief overview of geomicrobiology and biotechnological applications of the vast microbial resources is provided in this chapter.
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Parmar, N., Singh, A. (2014). Geobiotechnology. In: Parmar, N., Singh, A. (eds) Geomicrobiology and Biogeochemistry. Soil Biology, vol 39. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41837-2_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41837-2_1
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