Pollution
For hundreds of years human activities have subjected the planet to a range of unnatural stresses. However, the severe environmental implications of such activities have only become so evident in recent decades due to rapid industrialisation and urbanisation, as well as the rise of unsafe agricultural practices, to satisfy the needs of an ever-growing population.
Toxic pollutants released into the environment as a consequence accumulate and pose a serious, long-term threat to the ecosystem they occupy and to human health. It is therefore of great importance to remove these toxic chemical species or convert them into non-toxic species in order to return the environment back to its natural, sustainable state.
One category of pollutants presenting a significant risk to the environment and humans are the toxic heavy metals. These species are frequently utilised in a wide variety of industrial sectors, e.g. in medicine, electronics and catalysis; and it is the incorrect disposal of the resultant toxic metal containing wastes that leads to their discharge into the environment.
Remediation of the past
Numerous physiochemical approaches have been employed in the past in an attempt to remediate seriously contaminated sites, however, these techniques are very expensive, non-specific and often lead to the production of secondary environmental pollutants.
The future of remediation
In contrast to physiochemical methods, microbes can be recruited and utilised for remediation, known as bioremediation. This platform offers an eco-friendly, inexpensive, highly targeted and effective alternative. Adopting this, we have developed an effective novel bioremediation strategy by engineering the bacterium Escherichia coli such that it is capable of remediating toxic mercury(II) polluted environments.
