Application of “OMICs” Approaches in Bioremediation

Bioremediation is an eco-friendly and highly efficient technology over other kinds of treatments to remediate contaminated sites. However, it is necessary to take care of every parameter related to microbial diversity and physiology and the metabolism of the microbes during bioremediation, which helps in determining the efficiency and the key factors responsible for accelerating the decontamination process. For this aspect, various OMICs approaches such as genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics play a significant role in generating the information relevant to the degradation of the contaminants by the microbes. These approaches help in studying the functional and bio-synthetic potential of a microbe in isolation and play a crucial role in studying the functional potential of the community as a whole at a contaminated site. Microbial diversity, an abundance of microbial genera, and their enzymes are involved in the degradation of various types of pollutants in the contaminated environment. The present chapter provides an overview of various studies which are based on the application of OMICs in the field of bioremediation, advancement in tools and technologies in the methodology associated with OMICS, as well as about the key microbial players and enzymes used in the degradation of pollutants.