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Globally, there is a growing demand for biocatalysts because of the associated efficacy and efficiency. The applications of enzymes in food, paper, pulp, textile, and chemical industries have prompted enzyme exploration. Microbes, being the natural reservoirs of enzymes, have gained researchers’ attention, and the quest for microbial enzymes has increased in past years. This review provides insights about metagenomics techniques and their applicability in obtaining microbial-origin enzymes from diverse environmental samples besides highlighting their importance. The metagenomic approach has emerged as a promising way towards replacing conventional microbial techniques with culture-independent methods involving direct isolation of DNA environmental samples. There are two primary methodologies, i.e., functional-based and sequence-based, to identify and characterize industrially valuable biocatalysts from the environmental microcosms. Many of the obtained enzymes are successfully used in diverse food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. However, there are some complications associated with it that can be minimized only by further investigations. The paper focuses on the advancement of metagenomics for bioprospecting to stress on its significance in microbial characterization and exploration. This will also ensure the in-depth analysis of several unexplored and unknown microbial communities and/or members from complex niches.

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Microplastics (MPs) are ubiquitous pollutants persisting almost everywhere in the environment. With the increase in anthropogenic activities, MP accumulation is increasing enormously in aquatic, marine, and terrestrial ecosystems. Owing to the slow degradation of plastics, MPs show an increased biomagnification probability of persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic substances thereby creating a threat to environmental biota. Thus, remediation of MP-pollutants requires efficient strategies to circumvent the mobilization of contaminants leaching into the water, soil, and ultimately to human beings. Over the years, several microorganisms have been characterized by the potential to degrade different plastic polymers through enzymatic actions. Metagenomics (MGs) is an effective way to discover novel microbial communities and access their functional genetics for the exploration and characterization of plastic-degrading microbial consortia and enzymes. MGs in combination with metatranscriptomics and metabolomics approaches are a powerful tool to identify and select remediation-efficient microbes in situ. Advancement in bioinformatics and sequencing tools allows rapid screening, mining, and prediction of genes that are capable of polymer degradation. This review comprehensively summarizes the growing threat of microplastics around the world and highlights the role of MGs and computational biology in building effective response strategies for MP remediation.

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