“Omics” Insights into PAH Degradation toward Improved Green Remediation Biotechnologies

Abstract

This review summarizes recent knowledge of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) biotransformation by microorganisms and plants. Whereas most research has focused on PAH degradation either by plants or microorganisms separately, this review specifically addresses the interactions of plants with their rhizosphere microbial communities. Indeed, plant roots release exudates that contain various nutritional and signaling molecules that influence bacterial and fungal populations. The complex interactions of these populations play a pivotal role in the biodegradation of high-molecular-weight PAHs and other complex molecules. Emerging integrative approaches, such as (meta-) genomics, (meta-) transcriptomics, (meta-) metabolomics, and (meta-) proteomics studies are discussed, emphasizing how "omics" approaches bring new insight into decipher molecular mechanisms of PAH degradation both at the single species and community levels. Such knowledge address new pictures on how organic molecules are cometabolically degraded in a complex ecosystem and should help in setting up novel decontamination strategies based on the rhizosphere interactions between plants and their microbial associates.

The Willow Microbiome Is Influenced by Soil Petroleum-Hydrocarbon Concentration with Plant Compartment-Specific Effects

“…The breakdown of organic pollutants such as petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs), including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), in phytoremediation technology is driven by the interaction between the plants, and microorganisms (El Amrani et al, 2015). The stimulated microorganisms use organic contaminants as carbon and/or energy sources and in the process, partially, or completely breakdown these compounds into less toxic or less available substrates in the environment (Reichenauer and Germida, 2008).…”

Comparative Transcriptomic Approaches Exploring Contamination Stress Tolerance in Salix sp. Reveal the Importance for a Metaorganismal de Novo Assembly Approach for Nonmodel Plants

“…Nevertheless, in terms of what could be predicted to be differentially expressed (DE) in leaves of willow due to petroleum hydrocarbon contamination in soil, the following would be expected: general stress responses (potentially including oxidative stress from overproduction of reactive oxygen species; Yurekli and Porgali, 2006), indirect treatment-specific interactions (such as salinity and drought response interactions; Popko et al, 2010;Bauddh and Singh, 2012), and direct responses to petroleum hydrocarbons. In terms of a direct response, there is little evidence suggesting similar organic contaminates are often absorbed and mobilized to above-ground tissue (Alkio et al, 2005;Watts et al, 2006;El Amrani et al, 2015;Shiri et al, 2015) or metabolized to any degree by willow directly. There is, however, a growing body of evidence pertaining to metaorganismal interactions whereby a multitude of organisms collectively exploit these unique environmental conditions (Weyens et al, 2009;Kang et al, 2012;Bell et al, 2014a;Yergeau et al, 2014;Gonzalez et al, 2015).…”

Effect of rhizobacterial consortia from undisturbed arid- and agro-ecosystems on wheat growth under different conditions

“…; El Amrani et al . ). Soil bacteria providing benefits to plants are defined as plant growth‐promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) (Martínez‐Viveros et al .…”