Biosurfactant: Types, Detection Methods, Importance and Applications

There are many insoluble substrates that remain unavailable for macro and micro organisms. A microorganism synthesizes surface active agents to utilize these substrates that are collectively called as biosurfactants. Biosurfactants enhances the surface area of hydrophobic water-insoluble substrates that organism utilizes it for its growth and work efficiently in process of biodegradation, bioremediation and biocontrol. Oil spilling is a distressing problem for the environment that is affecting chemical, physical and biological equilibrium of all systems. A microorganism does many miraculous jobs. In such oil spilling conditions, they are personalized to grow in environmental conditions that are rich in oil. Their ability of utilizing oil we cannot ignore that highlights its importance to utilize the hydrocarbons as sole sources of energy. The hydrocarbon-utilizing microorganisms generates surface active agent that accelerates the process that are best defined as biosurfactants. Many methods are there to check the biosurfactants potentiality of the bacterial isolates such as Hemolytic activity, Drop collapsing test, Oil spreading test, Emulsification index test, Blue agar plate or CTAB agar plate method and Hydrocarbon overlay agar method. In this paper its classification, properties, methods and significance are presented. The paper also highlights its importance in reducing the oil spills.