title: Bioavailability of pollutants and chemotaxis.
abstract: The exposure of bacteria to pollutants induces frequently chemoattraction or chemorepellent reactions. Recent research suggests that the capacity to degrade a toxic compound has co-evolved in some bacteria with the capacity to chemotactically react to it. There is an increasing amount of data which show that chemoattraction to biodegradable pollutants increases their bioavailability which translates into an enhancement of the biodegradation rate. Pollutant chemoreceptors so far identified are encoded on degradation or resistance plasmids. Genetic engineering of bacteria, such as the transfer of chemoreceptor genes, offers thus the possibility to optimize biodegradation processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Protection, CSIC, Estación Experimental del Zaidín, Profesor Albareda 1, 18008 Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: Tino
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Krell
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lacal
authors.forename: Jose Antonio
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Reyes-Darias
authors.forename: Celia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jimenez-Sanchez
authors.forename: Rungroch
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sungthong
authors.forename: Jose Julio
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Ortega-Calvo
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D001682:Biological Availability; D002633:Chemotaxis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D007700:Kinetics
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants