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Endophytes and Secondary Metabolites pp 1–22Cite as

Endophytes as Pollutant-Degrading Agents: Current Trends and Perspectives

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Part of the book series: Reference Series in Phytochemistry ((RSP))

Abstract

Bioremediation is based on biological systems, bacteria, fungi, and plants. They are effective systems to treat a polluted site because they are able to modify the chemical structure of the contaminant into less hazardous end products. Investigations regarding the theme have immensely accelerated during the last years, what originated a great number of articles involving the terms “phytoremediation” and “bioremediation.” Initially the term phytoremediation was defined as being the use of plants for the degradation of polluting hazardous chemicals. However, the discovery that healthy plants could be containing endosymbiotic groups of microorganisms, often bacteria or fungi, led to the notion that these microorganisms could be, partly at least, responsible for the degradation of the pollutants. This review focuses on this proposed partnership in the bioremediation process, taking into account investigations conducted during the last 5 years.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, Proc. 404898/2016-5) for funding this study. R.C.G. Corrêa thanks CNPq for financing her postdoctoral research at State University of Maringá (Process number 167378/2017-1). R.M. Peralta (Project number 307944/2015-8) and A. Bracht (Project number 304090/2016-6) are CNPq research grant recipients.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Postgraduate Program in Food Science, State University of Maringa, Maringá, Parana, Brazil

    Rúbia Carvalho Gomes Corrêa, Adelar Bracht & Rosane Marina Peralta

  2. Post Graduate in Environmental Biotechnology, State University of Maringa, Maringá, Parana, Brazil

    Daiane Iark, Andressa de Sousa Idelfonso, Thais Marques Uber & Rosane Marina Peralta

  3. Department of Biochemistry, Laboratory of Biochemistry of Microorganisms and Food Science, State University of Maringa, Maringá, Parana, Brazil

    Adelar Bracht & Rosane Marina Peralta

Authors
  1. Rúbia Carvalho Gomes Corrêa
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  2. Daiane Iark
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  3. Andressa de Sousa Idelfonso
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  4. Thais Marques Uber
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  5. Adelar Bracht
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  6. Rosane Marina Peralta
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Correspondence to Rosane Marina Peralta .

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  1. Department of Botany, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Sumita Jha

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Corrêa, R.C., Iark, D., de Sousa Idelfonso, A., Uber, T.M., Bracht, A., Peralta, R.M. (2018). Endophytes as Pollutant-Degrading Agents: Current Trends and Perspectives. In: Jha, S. (eds) Endophytes and Secondary Metabolites. Reference Series in Phytochemistry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76900-4_24-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76900-4_24-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76900-4

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