Cyanoremediation: A Green-Clean Tool for Decontamination of Synthetic Pesticides from Agro- and Aquatic Ecosystems

Abstract

Immense use of synthetic chemicals in agriculture has deleterious effects on the environment even outside agro-ecosystem, microbial biodiversity, water bodies, and on life especially at the end of food chain, including humans. Therefore, there is a need to develop some viable and eco-friendly tools to remove these lethal chemicals from the environment. Bioremediation has been considered as a less-expensive alternative to physical and chemical means to decontaminate and degrade the pesticides from the contaminated sites. A number of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, actinomycetes, and cyanobacteria have been reported to degrade the pesticides. However, cyanobacteria (formally known as blue-green algae-BGA), the only known group of prokaryotes, capable of oxygenic photosynthesis and ubiquitous in distribution, have the remarkable ability to survive in harsh environments. Therefore, cyanobacteria could be a potential bioagent in degradation of noxious chemicals including pesticides. As a bioremediating agent, cyanobacteria have some advantages over other microbes in bioremediation, i.e., phototrophic nature makes them self-sufficient in growth, ability to fix nitrogen, and ease in biomass recovery. Some efficient and potential cyanobacterial genera such as Anabaena, Leptolyngbya, Microcystis, Nostoc, Spirulina, and Synechocystis have been found to tolerate and degrade various pesticides and herbicides. Biodegradation capabilities of cyanobacteria can be improved through genetic engineering, which can be exploited as cost-effective and eco-friendly remediation technology. This review focuses on the potential of cyanobacteria in the biodegradation of synthetic chemical residues from agro- and aquatic ecosystems.