MOLECULAR BIOLOGY TECHNIQUES INVOLVED IN ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING

Abstract

A short review of the main molecular methods recently involved in monitoring environmental pollution is the aim of our aper. The elimination of a wide range of pollutants and wastes from the environment is an absolute requirement to promote a sustainable development of our society with low environmental impact. New methodological breakthroughs in sequencing, genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics and imaging are producing vast amounts of information. Functional genomic and metagenomic approaches will increase our understanding of the relative importance of different pathways and regulatory networks to carbon flux in particular environments and for particular compounds, and they will certainly accelerate the development of bioremediation technologies and biotransformation processes. Tools for in situ monitoring of environmental pollutants are destined for both aims providing early warning systems and conceiving more efficient and less expensive remediation treatments.