Microbial Degradation of Xenobiotics - Practical Manual

The present manual is conceived as the training component of the project Microbial Technologies for Degradation of Persistent Pollutants" in order to allow the firsthand acquaintance and acquisition of certain practical skills in modern microbial techniques aimed at abating environmental levels of persistent pollutants. It embraces a follow-up set of laboratory exercises to a lecture course treating similar topics that focus on: methods of extraction of persistent pollutants from soil and their qualitative and quantitative analyses; establishment of the structure of xenobiotics and the products of their microbial bioconversion; description of techniques used for screening and isolation of active natural microbial strains, and genetic engineering of microorganisms with enhanced capabilities of degrading persistent politants; special attention is paid to the use of active strains for the cleanup of industrial sewage with due regard to the stability of utilized strains under selective and non-selective conditions.