Microbial Surfactants and Pesticide Residue Abatement

Elimination of pesticide residues from food has become important and has evoked immense
interest in recent research. It is now established that microbes have an indirect role in this, as they
are capable of degrading pesticides into inorganic innocuous end products. In the process of
degradation, transport and delivery of lipophylic pesticide molecules to the degradation Site
becomes the rate limiting step. Recent studies indicate that bacteria produce surfactants to
overcome such limitations. Even though microbial surfactants are widely used in industries such
as petroleum (MEOR), textiles, food processing and mining, their use in the field of pesticide
abatement is not yet explored. Investigations of Patel and Gopinathan (1986) on organophosphatic
pesticides show that microbial surfactants may have a role in pesticide metabolism. We, at CFTRI,
have reported the first microbial surfactant for solid organochlorine Insecticides from HCH
degrading Pseudomonas Ptm+ strain. The biosurfactant not ooy disperses the pesticide molecules
into micellar fractions to promote insecticide degradation, bul also acts as a cleaning agent and
removes residues from fruits, vegetables, grains and soil. Toxicological evaluation of the surfactant
In rats has revealed that these molecules are nontoxic to mammals. Fermentor studies for
large-scale production of HCH specific biosurfactant indicate that microbial biosurfactants can be
good candidates for industrial exploitation and pesticide residue abatement, thereby making the
environment better for living.