Syntrophic interactions in biodegradative consortia

Abstract

Bioremediation is carried out in nature, where countless microbes coexist and interact with each other. This chapter highlights syntrophic interactions among biodegradative bacteria that may be important to understand how organics (e.g., pollutants) are biodegraded in nature. We particularly focus on methanogenic and dechlorinating biodegradation with the expectation that scientists will more direct their studies toward syntrophic association among biodegradative bacteria.