REVIEW article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbiotechnology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1662000
This article is part of the Research TopicMicrobial Remediation of Heavy Metal PollutionView all 6 articles
Unleashing Rhizobacteria for Sustainable Soil Remediation: PGPR Roles in Heavy Metal Tolerance, Detoxification, and Plant Productivity
Provisionally accepted
- 1CSIR - Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, India
- 2Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, India
- 3Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research, Ghaziabad, India
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The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has projected that by 2050, nearly 90% of the world's soil resources will be at risk due to factors such as erosion, overuse of agrochemicals, and industrial pollution. As soil sustains over 95% of the global food supply, such degradation poses a critical threat to food security and ecosystem stability. Among the myriad environmental pollutants, heavy metals (HMs) like arsenic (As), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), and chromium (Cr) stand out as insidious threats to the environment. Addressing this issue demands the adoption of eco-friendly and sustainable remediation strategies. Microbial-assisted bioremediation particularly involving plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPRs) has emerged as a promising approach to enhance HMs detoxification while supporting plant health and soil recovery. In this review, we compile and critically evaluate current literature on PGPR-mediated bioremediation, with a focus on mechanisms of HMs tolerance and detoxification, the impact of PGPRs on soil health, and their role in promoting plant growth in contaminated environments. Overall, aims of the study is to provide a holistic understanding of microbial strategies for managing HMs pollution in soil–plant systems, offering a sustainable path forward for agricultural productivity and environmental restoration.
Keywords: bioremediation, heavy metals, Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria, Sustainableagriculture, crop productivity
Received: 08 Jul 2025; Accepted: 21 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Kaushal and Pati. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Aparna Maitra Pati, CSIR - Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, India
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