Smart, Sustainable, and Scalable Bioremediation of Heavy Metals: Integrating Biotechnology, Multi-Omics, Artificial Intelligence, and the Circular Bioeconomy

Heavy metal (HM) contamination is a pressing global concern driven by rapid industrialization, mining, and intensive agricultural practices. The resulting accumulation of toxic, non-biodegradable metals across terrestrial and aquatic environments poses serious risks to ecosystem integrity, food security, and human health. Conventional physicochemical remediation methods, though effective in some contexts, are frequently expensive, resource-intensive, and prone to generating secondary pollutants. Bioremediation — harnessing the detoxification capacity of microorganisms and plants — offers a sustainable, eco-friendly alternative. Yet large-scale implementation remains constrained by inconsistent field performance, scalability challenges, and insufficient mechanistic understanding.This Research Topic focuses on interdisciplinary strategies that integrate biotechnology, multi-omics, artificial intelligence (AI), and circular bioeconomy principles to build smart, adaptive, and scalable solutions for heavy metal bioremediation. It covers engineered biological systems — from microbial consortia and synthetic biology to phytoremediation and rhizosphere engineering — enhanced by AI-driven analytics and omics-guided insights, with an emphasis on resource recovery and closed-loop environmental management. Practical barriers to field deployment are also addressed, including advanced bioreactor design, in-situ remediation strategies, environmental risk assessment, regulatory considerations, and real-time monitoring tools.We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Mini-Reviews, Methods, and Perspective articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:• Isolation, screening, and characterization of heavy metal-resistant microorganisms and microbial consortia for bioremediation applications;• Phytoremediation, rhizosphere engineering, and plant–microbe interactions for enhanced metal detoxification;• Genetic and metabolic engineering — including CRISPR/Cas and other genome-editing technologies — to improve metal tolerance, uptake, and sequestration in microorganisms and plants;• Biofilm engineering, immobilized microbial systems, and bioelectrochemical approaches, including microbial fuel cells, for heavy metal removal;• Multi-omics and systems biology for elucidating metal detoxification mechanisms and designing efficient bioremediation systems;• Bio-based nanomaterials and nanobiotechnology for enhanced heavy metal adsorption and detoxification;• Machine learning, AI, and deep learning models for predicting and optimizing bioremediation performance, metal bioavailability, and environmental fate;• Big data analytics and biosensor development for real-time monitoring, contamination assessment, and spatial mapping;• Sustainable valorization of bioremediation biomass, including bioleaching, biomining, and integration with bioenergy and value-added bioproduct generation;• Bioreactor design, scale-up, and optimization for heavy metal remediation processes, including techno-economic and life-cycle assessment.By bridging fundamental research and practical implementation, this Research Topic aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and provides a platform for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers committed to advancing sustainable environmental remediation.Please note that Microbiotechnology does not consider descriptive studies that are solely based on amplicon (e.g., 16S rRNA) profiles or comparisons of nucleic acid extracts (e.g., metagenomics), unless they are accompanied by a clear hypothesis and experimentation and provide insight into the microbiological system or process being studied. Topic editors: Dr. Gaurav Saxena, Vishnu D. Rajput, Pankaj Kumar Arora Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/80921/smart-sustainable-and-scalable-bioremediation-of-heavy-metals-integrating-biotechnology-multi-omics-artificial-intelligence-and-the-circular-bioeconomy