Exploring the Potential of Endophytes in Phytoremediation

Anthropogenic activities have led to an exponential rise in pollution. Pollutants like heavy metals and organic chemicals are foremost subjects of challenge. Phytoremediation has surfaced as a prospective tool to clean up polluted environment. It is an in situ process in which plants are employed for remediation of polluted soils. It is an appreciated technology for dealing with huge contaminated sites. Phytoremediation, however, is a time-consuming process and high levels of contaminants pose a toxicity threat to the plants. This condition is mitigated by investigating the partnership of endophytes and plants. Endophytes are the organisms that flourish within the plants in a mutualistic manner. Presence of certain endophytes has been shown to enhance stress tolerance and phytoremediation in plants. There is a boost in uptake of heavy metals and degradation of organic pollutants by plants when accompanied with endophytes. Even to tackle the hindrance of mixed contaminants, the endophytes have been reported to sequester heavy metals and degrade organic compounds. This chapter has highlighted the role of endophytes in phytoremediation of heavy metals, organic pollutants, and mixed wastes. The strategies employed by endophytes that assist the process of phytoremediation like phytotoxicity reduction, improved phytoremediation, bioaccumulation, etc. have been discussed. Also, comprehensive information on recent cases of endophyte aided phytoremediation of different pollutants has been tabularized.