(1) Department of Environmental Life Sciences, Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan;(2) Environmental Molecular Biology Laboratory, RIKEN, Wako, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan
Abstract:
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are serious environmental pollutants that threaten both the natural ecosystem and human health. For remediation of environments contaminated with PCBs, several approaches that exploit the potential of microbes to degrade PCBs have been developed. These approaches include improvement of PCB solubilization and entry into the cell, pathway and enzyme engineering, and control of enzyme expression. In this mini-review, we briefly summarize these strategies and provide potentially useful knowledge for the further improvement of the bacterial breakdown of PCBs.