New insights into the microbial degradation and catalytic mechanism of synthetic pyrethroids

The significant applications of pyrethroid insecticides in agro-ecosystem and household environments have raised serious environmental concerns. Environmental bioremediation has emerged as an effective and eco-friendly approach to remove or neutralize hazardous compounds. Bioaugmentation accelerates pyrethroid degradation in liquid cultures and soil. Pyrethroid-degrading microorganisms have been extensively studied to cope with pyrethroid residues. Microorganisms primarily hydrolyze the ester bonds of pyrethroids, and their degradation pathways have been elaborated. The functional genes and enzymes involved in microbial degradation have also been screened and studied. Carboxylesterase plays a key role in pyrethroid degradation by cleaving its carboxylester linkage. The catalytic mechanism is dependent on a specific catalytic triad, consisting of three amino acid residues (glutamine, histidine, and serine) within the active site of the carboxylesterase enzyme. Pyrethroid-degrading strains and enzymes have proven to be effective for the bioremediation of pyrethroid-contaminated environments. In this review, we have summarized newly isolated pyrethroid-degrading strains and proposed the degradation pathways along with key functional genes/enzymes. To develop an efficient bioremediation strategy, pyrethroid-degrading microorganisms should be comprehensively explored.