Environmental DNA insights in search of novel genes/taxa for production of biofuels and biomaterials
Book Chapter
Gupta, J, Roy, D, Thakur, IS et al. (2022). Environmental DNA insights in search of novel genes/taxa for production of biofuels and biomaterials
. 111-135. 10.1016/B978-0-12-823500-3.00015-7
Gupta, J, Roy, D, Thakur, IS et al. (2022). Environmental DNA insights in search of novel genes/taxa for production of biofuels and biomaterials
. 111-135. 10.1016/B978-0-12-823500-3.00015-7
Environmental DNA (eDNA) is an excellent biological resource which has not been optimally explored to monitor the climate change impact. The climate change induces both abiotic and biotic environmental stressors. Investigation of the impact of biotic and abiotic environmental stressors at the organismal levels to decipher their interactions influencing the biodiversity of species is often prohibitively expensive and labor intensive. However, functional eDNA genomics allows the simultaneous monitoring of biodiversity of organisms and assessment of exposome, pointing critical information about the complex biotic interactions related to climate change impacting ecosystems. Both liquid and solid wastes generated from human activities contain degradable and nondegradable contaminants, including heavy metals, inorganic and organic hydrocarbons, lignocellulose, plastics, bricks, inert materials, and others. The waste exposed to both abiotic and biotic factors is degraded and transformed either into nontoxic organic compounds, which can be converted into value-added products by bioprocessing, or more toxic compounds including dangerous stressors or evolution of multidrug-resistant microorganisms. Here we extend our efforts to describe the potential of eDNA as an innovative emerging tool for monitoring biodiversity and exposomics. Additionally, we discuss the need for the identification and genomic mining of novel degradation genes, its activity in the biodegradation of persistent existing environmental and emerging contaminants, and assessing ecological and human health using eDNA. In summary, the application of eDNA for environmental biomonitoring has the potential to provide a breakthrough in the field of exposomics and climate impact modeling together with biofuel and biomaterials from the changing biodiversity.
