Rapid developments in the chemical industry have lead to the distribution of a wide variety of synthetic compounds into the environment. Synthetic polymers form the base for the more than 55% of all textile material with a worldwide fiber production of 3.3 million tones. Research on the microbial degradation of xenobiotic polymers has been underway for more than 40 years. It has exploited a new field not only in applied microbiology but also in environmental microbiology and has greatly contributed to polymer science by initiated the design of biodegradable polymers. According to important...
Rapid developments in the chemical industry have lead to the distribution of a wide variety of synthetic compounds into the environment. Synthetic pol...