ABSTRACT
Pesticides are natural of synthetic chemicals, and have become an integral part of modern agricultural systems for crop improvement. The increased use of these chemicals causes environmental pollution, accumulation of pesticide residues in agricultural soil, and also affect the metabolism of nontarget organisms. Pesticides are a common hazard around the world, as these chemicals are major pollutants leaching into the soil, groundwater, surface water bodies, and creating health concerns in many communities. To remediate these hazardous pollutants, the environmental awareness has been increased, which resulted in the development of microbial bioremediation and biodegradation technologies that guarantee their applicability in a safe, efficient, and economically important manner. Biodegradation is a considerable strategy to detoxify pesticides. Fortunately, few microbial strains transform pesticides into being less toxic. The isolation and metabolic characterization of pesticide degrading microorganisms can give the possibility to count with new tools to restore polluted environments. In this regard, this chapter gives an overview of characteristics of microbial physiology and their metabolizing enzymes to degrade pesticides in both in situ and in vivo studies.
