Using the stress response to monitor process control: pathways to more effective bioremediation.

Environmental contamination with a variety of pollutants has prompted the development of effective bioremediation strategies. But how can these processes be best monitored and controlled? One avenue under investigation is the development of stress response systems as tools for effective and general process control. Although the microbial stress response has been the subject of intensive laboratory investigation, the environmental reflection of the laboratory response to specific stresses has been little explored. However, it is only within an environmental context, in which microorganisms are constantly exposed to multiple changing environmental stresses, that there will be full understanding of microbial adaptive resiliency. Knowledge of the stress response in the environment will facilitate the control of bioremediation and other processes mediated by complex microbial communities.