001. Felipe Filgueiras de Almeida, Danúbia Freitas, Fabrício Motteran, Bruna Soares, Fernandes Sávia Gavazza. Department of Civil Engineering, Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), Acadêmico Hélio Ramos Avenue, s/n, 50740-530 Recife, PE, Brazil. Bioremediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in contaminated mangroves: Understanding the historical and key parameter profiles. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 2021, 169, Pages: 112553.

      Sensitive biomes, such as coastal ecosystems, have become increasingly susceptible to environmental impacts caused by oil logistics and storing, which, although more efficient nowadays, still cause spills. Thus, bioremediation techniques attract attention owing to their low impact on the environment. Among petroleum-based compounds, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are known for their potential impact and persistence in the environment. Therefore, PAH bioremediation is notably a technique capable of reducing these polluting compounds in the environment. However, there is a lack of understanding of microbial growth process conditions, leading to a less efficient choice of bioremediation methods. This article provides a review of the bioremediation processes in mangroves contaminated with oils and PAHs and an overview of some physicochemical and biological factors. Special attention was given to the lack of approach regarding experiments that have been conducted in situ and that considered the predominance of the anaerobic condition of mangroves.

Keywords: Coastal ecosystem, Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, Mangroves, Oil products, Microorganisms, Biological degradation.

002. Kha MongTran, Hyang-Mi Lee, Thi Duc Thai, Junhao Shen, Seong-il Eyun, Dokyun Na. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Republic of Korea. Synthetically engineered microbial scavengers for enhanced bioremediation. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2021, 419, Pages 126516.

      Microbial bioremediation has gained attention as a cheap, efficient, and sustainable technology to manage the increasing environmental pollution. Since microorganisms in nature are not evolved to degrade pollutants, there is an increasing demand for developing safer and more efficient pollutant-scavengers for enhanced bioremediation. In this review, we introduce the strategies and technologies developed in the field of synthetic biology and their applications to the construction of microbial scavengers with improved efficiency of biodegradation while minimizing the impact of genetically engineered microbial scavengers on ecosystems. In addition, we discuss recent achievements in the biodegradation of fastidious pollutants, greenhouse gases, and microplastics using engineered microbial scavengers. Using synthetic microbial scavengers and multidisciplinary technologies, toxic pollutants could be more easily eliminated, and the environment could be more efficiently recovered.

Keywords: Microbial scavengers, Synthetic biology, Biodegradation, Metabolic engineering, Toxic pollutants.