title: Potential Biotechnological Strategies for the Cleanup of Heavy Metals and Metalloids.
abstract: Global mechanization, urbanization, and various natural processes have led to the increased release of toxic compounds into the biosphere. These hazardous toxic pollutants include a variety of organic and inorganic compounds, which pose a serious threat to the ecosystem. The contamination of soil and water are the major environmental concerns in the present scenario. This leads to a greater need for remediation of contaminated soils and water with suitable approaches and mechanisms. The conventional remediation of contaminated sites commonly involves the physical removal of contaminants, and their disposition. Physical remediation strategies are expensive, non-specific and often make the soil unsuitable for agriculture and other uses by disturbing the microenvironment. Owing to these concerns, there has been increased interest in eco-friendly and sustainable approaches such as bioremediation, phytoremediation and rhizoremediation for the cleanup of contaminated sites. This review lays particular emphasis on biotechnological approaches and strategies for heavy metal and metalloid containment removal from the environment, highlighting the advances and implications of bioremediation and phytoremediation as well as their utilization in cleaning-up toxic pollutants from contaminated environments.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Biology, College of Sciences, University of SharjahSharjah, UAE; Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar UniversityCairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Kareem A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Mosa
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Biology, College of Sciences, University of Sharjah Sharjah, UAE.
authors.forename: Ismail
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Saadoun
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani, K. K. Birla Goa Campus Goa, India.
authors.forename: Kundan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: The Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomedical Research, University of Toronto, Toronto ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Helmy
authors.affiliation: Stockbridge School of Agriculture, University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Om Parkash
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: Dhankher
keywords: bioremediation; hyperaccumulation; phytoremediation; rhizoremediation; transgenic