Methodological Advances to Study Contaminant Biotransformation: New Prospects for Understanding and Reducing Environmental Persistence?
Kathrin Fenner, Martin Elsner, Tillmann Lueders, Michael S. McLachlan, Lawrence P. Wackett, Michael Zimmermann, Jörg E. Drewes
Abstract
) will depend on understanding the causal links among contaminant removal, the key driving agents of biotransformation at low concentrations (i.e., relevant microbes and their metabolic activities), and how their presence and activity depend on environmental conditions. In this Perspective, we present the current understanding and recent methodological advances that can help to identify such links, even in complex environmental microbiomes and for contaminants present at low concentrations in complex chemical mixtures. We discuss the ensuing insights into contaminant biotransformation across varying environments and conditions and ask how much closer we have come to designing improved approaches to reducing environmental exposure to contaminants.