Unraveling the mystery of subsurface microorganisms in bioremediation

Microorganisms are the key players in biogeochemical processes in the shallow subsurface for bioremediation. Estimation of genetic diversity, microbial activity, and their metabolic functions are the most applicable methods to explore the biodegradation processes in the subsurface. Several techniques such as community-level physiological profiling, sequencing, metagenomics, enzyme assay, and culture-based methods are used to investigate the metabolic potential, functional diversity, and genetic diversity of inherent microbial communities. These studies help to understand the metabolic pathways and biodegradation patterns in the subsurface, however, the interspecies microbial interactions and their transport mechanism in the porous media toward bioremediation of subsurface pollutants are still not well understood. Despite the advanced characterization methods for microbes, multiple crucial knowledge gaps of the dynamic subsurface microbial community remain unraveled. A detailed understanding of subsurface microbial interactions, mineral-metal-microbial correlation, transport mechanism, and degradation pathways will help in the optimization and design of in-situ bioremediation in the future. There is a need for detail-oriented exploration of these fundamental microbial processes to gain a greater understanding of microbial dynamics to facilitate the advanced bioremediation processes sustainably.