Growing population, increasing industrial and agricultural activities have resulted in the exponential release of high concern emerging pollutants into the environment, categorized under endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). The hydrophobic and lipophilic properties of these persisting EDCs comprising of pharmaceuticals, personal care products, pesticides, surfactants, several industrial chemicals result in generation of complexes with soil organic matter favoring their bioaccumulation via food chain. At each trophic level, these cause negative reproductive, developmental, and neurological impacts in both humans and animals even at low concentrations of ng/L to μg/L. In soil, these impose ecotoxicological effects on soil organisms, reduce microbial activity and change the soil’s physio-chemical properties. The present review provides an insight about its chemical fate in the environment with respect to their physiochemical properties, mechanisms and corresponding impacts in ecosystems. To mitigate EDCs, various regulatory frameworks designed around the globe have also been highlighted. Due to the unambiguous identification of EDCs structures and their amounts, the focus of this review has been also directed on the development of various analytical methods for their precise determination. Further, this review highlights the various physical and chemical methods for their removal with main focus towards the use of eco-friendly cost–effective approaches as phytoremediation, microbial remediation using bacteria, algae, yeasts, fungi and enzymatic remediation using ligninolytic enzyme systems of white rot fungi (WRF), generating no or minimum secondary pollutants. The prospects of immobilized microbes and enzymes on suitable nano supports to enhance their sensitivity against negative environmental factors, have also been summarized. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Clostridial neurotoxins, including botulinum and tetanus neurotoxins, are among the deadliest known bacterial toxins. Until recently, the horizontal mobility of this toxin gene family appeared to be limited to the genus Clostridium . We report here the closed genome sequence of Chryseobacterium piperi , a Gram-negative bacterium containing coding sequences with homology to clostridial neurotoxin family proteins.

Introduction: Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) as benzene phenolic derivatives being hydrophobic partition to organic matter in sludge/soil sediments and show slow degradation rate owing to poor bioavailability to microbes.Methods: In the present study, the potential of a versatile white rot fungal isolate S5 identified as Hypocrea lixii was monitored to degrade bisphenol A (BPA)/triclosan (TCS) under shake flask conditions with concomitant production of lipopeptide biosurfactant (BS) and plant growth promotion.Results: Sufficient growth of WRF for 5 days before supplementation of 50 ppm EDC (BPA/TCS) in set B showed an increase in degradation rates by 23% and 29% with corresponding increase in secretion of lignin-modifying enzymes compared to set A wherein almost 84% and 97% inhibition in fungal growth was observed when BPA/TCS were added at time of fungal inoculation. Further in set B, EDC concentration stimulated expression of laccase and lignin peroxidase (Lip) with 24.44 U/L of laccase and 281.69 U/L of Lip in 100 ppm BPA and 344 U/L Lip in 50 ppm TCS supplemented medium compared to their respective controls (without EDC). Biodegradation was also found to be correlated with lowering of surface tension from 57.02 mN/m (uninoculated control) to 44.16 mN/m in case of BPA and 38.49 mN/m in TCS, indicative of biosurfactant (BS) production. FTIR, GC-MS, and LC-ESI/MSMS confirmed the presence of surfactin lipopeptide isoforms. The WRF also displayed positive plant growth promoting traits as production of ammonia, indole acetic acid, siderophores, Zn solubilization, and 1-1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase activity, reflecting its soil restoration ability.Discussion: The combined traits of biosurfactant production, EDC degradation and plant growth promotion displayed by WRF will help in emulsifying the hydrophobic pollutants favoring their fast degradation along with restoration of contaminated soil in natural conditions.