Biotransformation

A USGS scientist collecting water samples anaerobically in a glove bag as part of a study of the processes that control the biotransformation of contaminants in a subsurface plume of landfill leachate at the Norman Municipal Landfill, Norman, Okla. (Click on image for larger version)

Definitions

Biotransformation – "Chemical conversion of a substance that is mediated by living organisms or enzyme preparations derived there from" -- Stephenson and others, 2006

Biotransformation - "Biotransformation is the process whereby a substance is changed from one chemical to another (transformed) by a chemical reaction within the body." – National Library of Medicine and Monosson, 2007

Biotransformation or microbial transformation – "The use of living organisms to modify substances that are not normally used for growth." – Prescott and others, 2002

Biotransformation – "The series of chemical reactions that occur in a compound, especially a drug, as a result of enzymatic or metabolic activities by a living organism" -- McGraw-Hill Companies, 2003

Biotransformation  -- "Chemical alteration of a substance within the body, as by the action of enzymes." -- The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

Related Terms

• Biodegradation

Related Headlines

• Wastewater Indicators Shown to Degrade in Streams
• RDX Biodegradation Under Metal-Reducing Conditions
• New Information on the Long-Term Fate of Ammonium in Ground Water
• Microorganisms Degrade MTBE Even at Winter Ground-Water Temperatures
• Does NDMA Biodegrade at Ground-Water Recharge Facilities?
• Ground-Water Recharge Affects Fate of Petroleum Contaminant Plumes
• History and Ecology of Chloroethene Biodegradation--A Review
• Using Oxygen to Enhance Biodegradation of Contaminants -- Lessons Learned
• USGS Scientists Contribute to the Landmark "Treatise on Geochemistry"
• A Unique Approach to Evaluating Natural Attenuation is Applied Worldwide
• Landmark Book Published on the Fate of Contaminants in the Environment: Partition and Adsorption of Organic Contaminants in Environmental Systems
• Using Oxygen to Clean Up Ground-Water Contamination
• MTBE Can Degrade Naturally Without Oxygen
• How Do You Clean Up Gasoline Spills Naturally?
• Relying on Nature to Clean Up Contaminated Ground Water
• MTBE Biodegrades Naturally in Stream Sediments
• Natural Attenuation for Groundwater Remediation
• Can a Sewage-Contaminated Aquifer Naturally Clean Itself?
• Natural Attenuation of MTBE at Laurel Bay, South Carolina

Related Research

• Search the Toxic Substances Hydrology Program Bibliography for "biotransformation"
• Biodegradation of Emerging Contaminants
• Application of Molecular Methods in Microbial Ecology to Understand the Natural Attenuation of Chlorinated Solvents
• Bacteria - Contaminant Interactions
• Biogeochemistry of Carbon and Nitrogen in Aquatic Environments
• Chlorinated Solvents in Fractured Sedimentary Rock, Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) Research Site, West Trenton, NJ
• Comparative Study of Organic Degradation in Selected Hydrologic Environments
• Hydrogeochemical and Microbiological Investigations of Radionuclides, Nutrients, and Environmental Contaminants
• Interaction of Bacteria with Environmental Contaminants and Solid Surfaces in the Aquatic Environment
• Microbial Biogeochemistry of Aquatic Environments
• Microbial Degradation of Chloroethenes in Ground Water Systems
• Microbiology and Molecular Ecology of Biogeochemical Cycles in Aquatic Environments
• Multiphase Contaminant Transport, Reaction, and Biodegradation Project
• Organic Compounds in Near-Surface Environments: Understanding Fate in a Changing Biogeochemical Landscape
• Processes Affecting the Natural Attenuation of Fuel Oxygenates in Ground Water Fuel, Laurel Bay, South Carolina
• Processes Affecting the Natural Attenuation of Gasoline in Ground Water, Galloway Township, New Jersey
• Transport and Biogeochemical Fate of Organic Substances in Aquatic Environments

References

Stephenson, G.R., Ferris, I.G., Holland, P.T., and Nordberg, M., 2006, Glossary of terms relating to pesticides (IUPAC Recommendations 2006): Pure and Applied Chemistry, v. 78, no. 11, p. 2,075-2,154, doi:10.1351/pac200678112075. – Please use the following formatting tag for all of the references - <P CLASS="REFERENCE">

National Library of Medicine (content source), Emily Monosson (editor), 2007, Biotransformation, in Cleveland, C.J., ed., Encyclopedia of Earth: Washington, D.C., Environmental Information Coalition, National Council for Science and the Environment (online only, accessed July 18, 2007).

Prescott, L.M., Klein, D.A., and Harley, J.P., 2002, Microbiology -- Online Learning Center (5th ed.): McGraw-Hill Higher Education, p.

The McGraw-Hill Companies, 2003, Biotransformation, in AccessScience--McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology Online: The McGraw-Hill Companies (Accessed July 18, 2007).

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 2000: Houghton Mifflin Company, Fourth Edition.

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