Abstract
The employment of environmental remediation technologies as a sustainable tool for the rehabilitation of polluted environments has gained immense popularity over the decades. However, efficient and accurate methods for monitoring environmental remediation have to be established to ensure the successful application of such protocols. Over the years, several analytical techniques were introduced to monitor the environmental remediation process. However, these methods showed many limitations, such as poor performance and inability to distinguish between biological vs. non-biological degradation. Therefore, scientists are eager to discover far more accurate and effective novel monitoring methods to restore the environment. As a result, bioremediation techniques that employ living cells have emerged as a versatile and flexible monitoring tool that can be applied to monitor both ex situ and in situ environmental remediation, among which microbes have been recognized as ideal candidates for this purpose. Numerous microbial biosensors, namely: electrochemical, optical, and microbial fuel cell-based biosensors, were developed and deployed to monitor the level of pollution. Recent advances in synthetic biology and genetic engineering have facilitated the design and development of microbial biosensors for efficient and accurate monitoring and assessment of bioremediation. This chapter reviews the recent developments of microbial biosensors and their applicability for monitoring different pollutants. In addition, we identify the critical challenges and the roadblocks that need to be urgently addressed to make them field-deployable for rapid screening of pollutants in the environment.
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Divyasorubini, S., Kandage, S.M., Liyanage, S., Rajapakse, C., Silva, G.N. (2022). Microbial Biosensors for Real-Time Monitoring of the Bioremediation Processes. In: Suyal, D.C., Soni, R. (eds) Bioremediation of Environmental Pollutants. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86169-8_5
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