13.3.2 Biological Factors or Biotic Factors
There are some biological factors that have great influence in bioremediation. The
specificity of microbes towards the substrates has a great role in bioremediation, and
it has shown that microbes have a wide range of specificity for different types of
substrates which may alter the remediation of target pollutants (Boopathy 2000;
Abatenh et al. 2017). Complete bioremediation cannot be achieved by single
microbial species; therefore, a microbial consortia is required for complete bioremediation. In microbial consortia, the interaction of microbes is the key factor for
bioremediation (Abatenh et al. 2014). Individually, maybe all the microbial species
are good remediators, but in consortium maybe they are allelopathic in nature.
Therefore, proper design of microbial consortia is an important step of bioremediation
(Boopathy 2000).
13.3.3 Climatic Factors
Elevated carbon dioxide and temperature are the main factors of global climate
change (Boopathy 2000). Though there are no direct evidence of climate change
affecting the bioremediation, changes in physicochemical characteristics of microbial niche may disturb various metabolic processes and thereby bioremediation
process. The climatic condition greatly influences the microbial extracellular enzyme
productions which may help/alter in bioremediation process (Abatenh et al. 2017).
13.4 Conclusion and Future Prospects
Essential research on bioremediation of radionuclides is of fundamental significance
to the advancement of new strategies and innovations to secure the earth. Radionuclide bioremediation to a great extent depends upon the capability of the microorganisms to survive under highly radioactive situations. But there are some biotic and
abiotic factors which alters the biological processes of microbes by altering the
behaviour and growth. Lack of knowledge regarding the factors that affects and
influences may alter the rate of bioremediation. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the mechanism how the factors affecting bioremediation will help to find out
the permanent solution. In this case, genetic engineering has brought a revolutionary
change in the field of bioremediation as it can help to overcome the factors which can
affect bioremediation by engineering new pathways or by evaluating regulatory
factors that are participating in bioremediation. It is important to comprehend the
mechanism that empowers organisms to dispense with the radionuclides from
defiled sites. Understanding the molecular network by ‘omic’-based studies such
as proteomics and transcriptomics will be helpful for environmental decontamination. Future prospects in the field of bioremediation have a lot of opportunities. Since
13 Role of Microbes in Bioremediation of Radioactive Waste
347
There are some biological factors that have great influence in bioremediation. The
specificity of microbes towards the substrates has a great role in bioremediation, and
it has shown that microbes have a wide range of specificity for different types of
substrates which may alter the remediation of target pollutants (Boopathy 2000;
Abatenh et al. 2017). Complete bioremediation cannot be achieved by single
microbial species; therefore, a microbial consortia is required for complete bioremediation. In microbial consortia, the interaction of microbes is the key factor for
bioremediation (Abatenh et al. 2014). Individually, maybe all the microbial species
are good remediators, but in consortium maybe they are allelopathic in nature.
Therefore, proper design of microbial consortia is an important step of bioremediation
(Boopathy 2000).
13.3.3 Climatic Factors
Elevated carbon dioxide and temperature are the main factors of global climate
change (Boopathy 2000). Though there are no direct evidence of climate change
affecting the bioremediation, changes in physicochemical characteristics of microbial niche may disturb various metabolic processes and thereby bioremediation
process. The climatic condition greatly influences the microbial extracellular enzyme
productions which may help/alter in bioremediation process (Abatenh et al. 2017).
13.4 Conclusion and Future Prospects
Essential research on bioremediation of radionuclides is of fundamental significance
to the advancement of new strategies and innovations to secure the earth. Radionuclide bioremediation to a great extent depends upon the capability of the microorganisms to survive under highly radioactive situations. But there are some biotic and
abiotic factors which alters the biological processes of microbes by altering the
behaviour and growth. Lack of knowledge regarding the factors that affects and
influences may alter the rate of bioremediation. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the mechanism how the factors affecting bioremediation will help to find out
the permanent solution. In this case, genetic engineering has brought a revolutionary
change in the field of bioremediation as it can help to overcome the factors which can
affect bioremediation by engineering new pathways or by evaluating regulatory
factors that are participating in bioremediation. It is important to comprehend the
mechanism that empowers organisms to dispense with the radionuclides from
defiled sites. Understanding the molecular network by ‘omic’-based studies such
as proteomics and transcriptomics will be helpful for environmental decontamination. Future prospects in the field of bioremediation have a lot of opportunities. Since
13 Role of Microbes in Bioremediation of Radioactive Waste
347