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Mitigation of Hazardous Contaminants: A Phyto-Microbiome Approach

Abstract:

The elimination of toxic waste in soils, water, and in general in all types of environmental scenarios has become a goal for scientists and environmental organizations, due to the devastating effects it causes on health, biodiversity, soils, and sources of water. The pollutants are divided for study according to their chemical composition in hydrocarbons and their derivatives, heavy metals and pesticides. Intensive, traditional techniques for eliminating or attenuating the effects of toxic waste on ecosystems are very expensive and consume a great deal of time. Instead, the interactions that occur naturally between plants and microbes are being exploited for this purpose, as it has been shown that numerous species of both types of organisms have the ability to act on various types of pollutants through various detoxification mechanisms, and that plants and microorganisms can act in this direction together. This chapter analyzes the applications of these interactions in reducing pollution by the three groups of toxic products, both through the use of plants and microbes in their natural state and through the use of genetically modified organisms.