ENVIRONMENTAL BIOREMEDIATION ENGINEERING USING CRISPR-MODIFIED SOIL MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES

Abstract

Background: Environmental pollution caused by heavy metals, petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides and industrial contaminants poses serious threats to soil ecosystems, biodiversity and human health. Traditional remediation methods are often expensive, environmentally damaging and ineffective in restoring the ecosystem in the long term. CRISPR-based synthetic biology has become an attractive approach to engineer soil microbial communities with improved biodegradation ability.

Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the efficiency of CRISPR-modified soil microbial communities for sustainable environmental bioremediation and degradation of pollutants.

Methodology: We applied CRISPR-Cas genome editing, optimization of metabolic pathways and synthetic regulatory circuits to construct microbial consortia for degradation of environmental pollutants under controlled soil conditions. Bioremediation efficiency was evaluated by GC-MS, ICP-MS, metagenomics and soil quality analyses.
Findings: Engineered microbial systems exhibited significant enhancement in pollutant removal efficiency such as petroleum hydrocarbon degradation (85%), cadmium removal (78%), pesticide detoxification (72%) and phenolic compound degradation (81%). Also, the soil fertility, microbial activity and ecological recovery were significantly enhanced with respect to the untreated contaminated soils.

Conclusion: CRISPR-engineered microbial consortia represent an efficient, green, and scalable solution for sustainable environmental bioremediation and future environmental biotechnology applications.