Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are among the most commonly found soil organic contaminants that have significant potential for bioremediation. However, PAHs are the best representatives of chemicals for which specific limitations in bioremediation exist due to low bioavailability. Therefore, innovative methods are required to increase the bioavailability of these pollutants to achieve an enhanced bioremediation performance. For these innovations to be competitive, they should be sustainable, lead to increased biodegradation rates and lower residual concentrations, and also keep associated risks at reasonably low levels. Indeed, microorganisms and plants may exhibit a unique set of roles relevant for mobilization and biodegradation of PAHs, suitable for optimization under such scheme. This overview contribution will examine our recent research efforts in this issue. We found that biodegradation of poorly bioavailable PAHs was enhanced by (bio)surfactants (Environ. Sci. Technol. 45:3019–3026, 2011; Environ. Sci. Technol.48:10869–10877, 2014), the targeted fertilization of free-oil phases or NAPLs (Environ. Sci. Technol. 45:1074–1081, 2011), modulating the deposition and motility of microbial degraders in porous media (Environ. Sci. Technol. 46:6790–6797, 2012), promoting microbial availability with plants and root exudates (Soil Biol. Biochem. 57:830–840, 2013; Environ. Sci. Technol. 49:4498–4505, 2015), and microbial (bacterial/oomycete) interactions in the formation of biofilms at the pollutant interfaces (Sci. Total Environ. 511:767–776, 2015). These biological influences on bioavailability are relevant not only for innovation efforts in bioremediation but they have also connections with the determination of bioavailability of organic chemicals in retrospective and prospective risk assessment and regulation (Environ. Sci. Technol. 49:10255–10264, 2015).

Comunicación oral presentada en el ECB2016 - 17th European Congress on Biotechnology 3 - 6 July 2016, Kraków, Poland y publicado el abstract en un número especial de la Revista New Biotechnology, Volume 33, Supplement, 25 July 2016, Pages s30-s31

Peer Reviewed