Biodegradation of emerging pollutants: Focus on pharmaceuticals

Abstract

A priority environmental problem is pollution and disturbance of natural environments by emerging pollutants substances of various origins and structures and with known and/or potential ecotoxic effects. One of the most dangerous groups of emergingpollutants ispharmaceutical substances due to their highly stable chemical structure and pronounced biological activity. They are found in soil, bottom sediments, surface, sewage, groundwater and drinking water. Uncontrolled release of pharmaceuticals in open ecosystems is potentially dangerous, entailing environmental consequences. Their negative impacts on living organisms are evident. This has driven the search for effective ways to neutralise persistent pollutants. In Russia, pharmaceutical pollution of the environment has commenced recently and is still presented as research with a local focus. In particular, the dynamics and metabolic mechanisms of pharma pollutants by Rhodococcus actinobacteria, outstanding among other microorganisms for their capacity to degrade a great diversity of degradable pollutants, are most intensively investigated. These studies are implemented at the junction of organic chemistry, molecular biology, biotechnology, and pharmacology. They include a set of interrelated fundamental tasks, such as developing drug detection methods in the cultivation media of microorganisms, elucidating the relationships between the systematic affiliation of microorganisms and their ability to degrade chemically different drug substances, as well as studying the degree of biodegradability and toxic effects of new compounds on the degrading microorganisms, and also the features of their decomposition and co-metabolism. Solving these tasks is important to enable understanding of the environmental fate of pharmaceuticals and to create prerequisites for innovative technical solutions in the advanced treatment of pharmaceutical wastewater. It is also essential for the development of environmentally safe approaches to hazardous pharmaceutical waste management.