Summary
Environmental biotechnology integrates biological systems and engineering principles to monitor, manage and remediate natural and built environments. Central to the discipline are molecular diagnostics, such as environmental DNA (eDNA) analyses, and biosensors that provide rapid detection of biodiversity shifts, invasive species and chemical pollutants. Parallel advances in bioremediation harness specialist microbial consortia, fungal biomass and hyperaccumulator plants to transform or immobilise organic and inorganic contaminants in soil and water. Industrial biotechnology underpins the development of sustainable processes for waste treatment, biogas and biofertiliser production, and the design of greentech materials. By combining genomics, high-throughput screening and synthetic biology, the field addresses challenges ranging from antibiotic resistance dissemination to greenhouse-gas mitigation, while advocating for circular-economy solutions and minimal environmental impact.
Research from Nature Portfolio
Intensive sampling of river systems using eDNA metabarcoding has demonstrated the power of this approach to capture entire fish, amphibian and invertebrate communities across seasons and spatial scales of tens of kilometres. By linking systematic sampling with measurements of flow, pH, temperature and rainfall, it was shown that community turnover rather than downstream transport of DNA predominates in driving observed beta diversity. Complementary deep-sequencing studies have revealed that human DNA sequences are routinely recovered as bycatch in aquatic eDNA surveys, prompting both novel surveillance possibilities and urgent ethical considerations around privacy and consent for large-scale eDNA monitoring. In the realm of remediation, field-scale reactors inoculated with microbial consortia enriched from tannery effluent achieved over 90 per cent reduction of hexavalent chromium. Under optimised nutrient and pH regimes, sulphide-generating bacteria coupled to direct chromate respiration yielded stable Cr(III) precipitates embedded in extracellular polymeric substances, delivering sustained performance under variable loading conditions.
Topic trend for the past 5 years
The graph below shows the article count in Nature Index journals for environmental biotechnology.
* The ‘Current Index’ represents data for a 12-month rolling window, the current window is 1 May 2025 - 30 April 2026.
Technical terms
Environmental DNA (eDNA): Genetic material shed by organisms into water, soil or air, used to infer species presence and community composition.
Metabarcoding: High-throughput sequencing of a standardised genetic marker from mixed eDNA samples to identify multiple taxa simultaneously.
Bioremediation: Use of microorganisms, fungi or plants to transform, sequester or mineralise pollutants into less harmful forms in soil and water.
Biosorption: Passive binding of contaminants, notably metal ions, to cell surfaces or extracellular polymers without the need for metabolic activity.
Microbial consortia: Engineered or naturally assembled communities of microorganisms that act synergistically to degrade or immobilise complex pollutants.
Activated sludge: A dense aggregation of microbial biomass maintained in aerated reactors to degrade organic waste in wastewater treatment.
Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS): Complex mixtures of polymers secreted by microbes that form biofilm matrices and facilitate contaminant binding and stabilisation.
Notable articles in environmental biotechnology
- Real-time bioelectronic sensing of environmental contaminants. Nature (2022).
- Cell-free biosensors for rapid detection of water contaminants. Nature Biotechnology (2020).
- Reductive sequestration of chromate by hierarchical FeS@Fe0 particles. Water Research (2016).
- Enhanced reductive dechlorination of trichloroethylene by sulfidated nanoscale zerovalent iron. Water Research (2015).
About these summaries
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Research
Position of Environmental Biotechnology in Nature Index by Count
Leading institutions
| Institution | Count | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) | 10 | 4.1 |
| Zhejiang University (ZJU) | 7 | 3.41 |
| China University of Geosciences, Beijing (CUGB) | 5 | 2.65 |
| Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) | 3 | 2.17 |
| Zhejiang University of Technology (ZJUT) | 6 | 2.12 |
| Jiangnan University | 5 | 1.98 |
| Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) | 3 | 1.92 |
| Central South University (CSU) | 3 | 1.81 |
| China Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) | 7 | 1.77 |
| Nanjing University of Science and Technology (NUST) | 2 | 1.71 |
Collaboration
Top 5 leading collaborators in Environmental Biotechnology
Collaborating institutions
Note: Hover over the bars to view details about each institution's Share.
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