Production of Biosurfactant and their Role in Bioremediation

The treatment of environmental pollution by microorganisms is a promising technology. Various genetic approaches have been developed and used to optimize the enzymes, metabolic pathways and organisms relevant for biodegradation. Naturally occurring microbial activities are and have been the starting point for all biotechnological applications. It is therefore necessary to isolate bacterial strains with novel metabolic capabilities and to biochemically and genetically elucidate degradative pathways. Microbial biosurfactants are extracellular compounds produced by microbes such as bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes when grown in culture medium containing hydrophobic/ hydrophilic substrates. Biosurfactants are surface active molecules having hydrophilic and hydrophobic moieties as their constituents which allow them to interact at interfaces and reduce the surface tension. As compared to their chemical/synthetic counterparts, biosurfactants have unique properties such as high activity, less/or no toxicity, biodegradability and ease of production from renewable resources. There is a useful diversity of biosurfactants due to the wide variety of producer microorganisms. Also their chemical compositions and functional properties can be strongly influenced by environmental conditions.