MICROBIAL BIODEGRADATION OF XENOBIOTICS AND TOXIC SUBSTANCES

One of the biggest environmental problems is the accumulation of recalcitrant compounds that cause negative impacts on ecosystems. The concentration of xenobiotic compounds and toxic substances has increased considerably in recent decades due to products from different industrial processes. Xenobiotic compounds are a cause of concern mainly due to their carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic effects and for their bioaccumulative and biomagnifying characteristics, therefore different strategies have been sought to reduce these effects. The degradation of xenobiotic compounds is a widely used strategy, it consists of a natural process carried out by diverse microorganisms that use said compounds as a form of survival, the microorganisms play the most important role in the degradation of recalcitrant compounds because they have the capacity to grow using them as the only carbon source, these types of organisms are a "greener" biocatalytic alternative. The metabolic routes of these microorganisms transform pollutants through specific systems, improving the environmental conditions that humans have been for two centuries altering violently.