18 Environmental Biotechnology
Figure 2.3 Carbohydrates
route able to be activated when the need arises, such as challenge from a novel
chemical in the environment. Additionally, there is enormous potential for uptake
and exchange of genetic information as discussed earlier in this chapter. It is the
enormous range of metabolic capability which is harnessed in environmental
biotechnology.
The basis of this discipline is about ensuring that suitable organisms are present
which have the capability to perform the task required of them. This demands
the provision of optimal conditions for growth, thus maximising degradation or
removal of the contaminant. Linked to many of the catalytic steps in the metabolic
pathway are reactions which release sufficient energy to allow the synthesis of
ATP. This is the energy ‘currency’ of a cell which permits the transfer of energy