Industrialization, urbanization and misuse of various natural processes have
led to the generation of many pollutants in the environment. These include halogenated
nitroaromatic compounds, petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides, phthalate esters and
solvents. Remediation of contaminated sites through conventional methods relies on
physicochemical treatments thereby posing considerable technical and economic issues
or challenges. A promising technology for the efficient removal of pollutants,
bioremediation, involves utilization of capabilities of microorganisms in a costeffective
manner. Among microorganisms, actinomycetes have omni-presence in
diverse ecological niches and they play a major role as a decomposer community
involved in reutilization of substances and degradation of complex polymers as well as
in the synthesis of useful bioactive compounds. Therefore, actinomycetes have gained
unusual attention as potential candidates for bioremediation. Moreover, prominence of
omic studies and nanotechnology has revealed the metabolic regulations and processes
that actinomycete utilize to manage the toxicity of pollutants. This manuscript will
discuss the research interventions on bioremediation of various pollutants through
actinomycetes as remediation agents and their contribution towards environment
cleanup.
Keywords: Actinomycetes, Amycolatopsis tucumanensis, Bioactive compounds,
Bioremediation approaches, Biotransformation, Diverse niche, Extremophilic
Actinobacteria, Environmental pollution, Enzymes, Functional genomics, Green
revolution, Hydrocarbons, Heavy metals, Marine Actinobacteria, Nanoremediation,
Pollutants, Proteomics, Recalcitrants, Streptomyces rochei,
Xenobiotics.
