Introduction

The many thousands of human-made and other chemical compounds present in the environment offer a serious challenge to our biosphere. It is appropriate, therefore, that our response to these products of human knowledge and ingenuity should draw on a body of extensive scientific endeavor that is no less impressive.

Bioremediation offers the possibility of harnessing the diversity of the biosphere to degrade, remove, alter, or otherwise detoxify these various chemicals. It brings together scientists from a wide variety of disciplines and backgrounds, such as microbiology, molecular biology, analytical chemistry, and chemical and environmental engineering, among others. These different fields, each with its own individual approach, have actively contributed to the development of bioremediation research in recent years.

Purpose of the Book

The principal objective of Bioremediation Protocols is to make the fruits of some of this research available in a different format to that of the textbook or journal article. It provides a selection of clearly written laboratory protocols presented as stepwise, easy-to-follow instructions.

In common with previous volumes in this and the companion Methods in Molecular Biology series, an extensive “Notes” section is provided with each chapter. This contains useful information (of a type often not normally included in a research paper) supplementing the protocol. Reviews and case studies are also included to provide a deeper context to the methods chapters.