Role of Microbial Consortia in Enhanced Bioremediation of Organic Pollutants and Heavy Metals

  • Unique Paper ID: 182644
  • PageNo: 2780-2784
  • Abstract:
  • Microbial bioremediation is a sustainable method to reduce environmental pollution from organic contaminants and heavy metals using microorganisms like bacteria, archaea, and fungi. While single strains have limited efficiency, engineered microbial consortia—developed via top-down or bottom-up approaches—offer enhanced degradation rates, stress resilience, and substrate range. These consortia, through metabolic cooperation and cross-feeding, can effectively break down pollutants such as PAHs, atrazine, 2,4-D, Cr(VI), Cd, and lindane. For example, consortia of Mycobacterium, Novosphingobium, Ochrobactrum, and Bacillus tripled pyrene degradation compared to individual strains. Biofilm formation aids in heavy metal binding, while co-cultures like E. coli and P. putida can target both organic and inorganic pollutants. The approach shows promise, and future research should focus on improving scalability, cost-efficiency, and understanding of microbial interactions.

Copyright & License

Copyright © 2026 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

BibTeX

@article{182644,
        author = {Srilatha S and Kezia Earlin Praisy.B and Bharathi B and Deepa C.Philip},
        title = {Role of Microbial Consortia in Enhanced Bioremediation of Organic Pollutants and Heavy Metals},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {12},
        number = {2},
        pages = {2780-2784},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=182644},
        abstract = {Microbial bioremediation is a sustainable method to reduce environmental pollution from organic contaminants and heavy metals using microorganisms like bacteria, archaea, and fungi. While single strains have limited efficiency, engineered microbial consortia—developed via top-down or bottom-up approaches—offer enhanced degradation rates, stress resilience, and substrate range. These consortia, through metabolic cooperation and cross-feeding, can effectively break down pollutants such as PAHs, atrazine, 2,4-D, Cr(VI), Cd, and lindane. For example, consortia of Mycobacterium, Novosphingobium, Ochrobactrum, and Bacillus tripled pyrene degradation compared to individual strains. Biofilm formation aids in heavy metal binding, while co-cultures like E. coli and P. putida can target both organic and inorganic pollutants. The approach shows promise, and future research should focus on improving scalability, cost-efficiency, and understanding of microbial interactions.},
        keywords = {Microbial consortia, bioremediation, heavy metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), metabolic cooperation.},
        month = {July},
        }

Cite This Article

S, S., & Praisy.B, K. E., & B, B., & C.Philip, D. (2025). Role of Microbial Consortia in Enhanced Bioremediation of Organic Pollutants and Heavy Metals. International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology (IJIRT), 12(2), 2780–2784.

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