Biodegradation of 3-chloropropionic acid (3-CP) by bacillus cereus WH2 and its in-silico enzyme-substrate docking analysis

Abstract

The particularly disturbing elevated presence of xenobiotic compounds viz. herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and solvents in the environment, is the result of their widening use by industries and agriculture sector. Although over 5000 kinds of halogenated hydrocarbons exist naturally in the environment, it is a mere fraction to the compounds produced from human activities, in addition to the illegal dumping of halogenated compounds. This important class of environmental pollutants are now prevalent in soil, air, water, and sediment, thus posing a demonstrable threat to human health and quality of potable water, owing to their carcinogenicity, toxicity and hazardous metabolites. To make matters worse, these compounds are generally impervious to biotic and abiotic degradation (Edbeib et al., 2016, Batumalaie et al., 2018). Repercussions of their environmental persistence can be far reaching and potentially lead to increased health issues.