Environmental Technology & Innovation 17 (2020) 100602 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Environmental Technology & Innovation journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/eti The role of plant growth promoting bacteria on arsenic removal: A review of existing perspectives Sadiya Alka a , Shafinaz Shahir a,* , Norahim Ibrahim a , Tsun-Thai Chai b,c , Zaratulnur Mohd Bahari d , Fazilah Abd Manan a,* a Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor, Malaysia b Department of Chemical Science, Faculty of Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, 31900, Kampar, Malaysia c Centre for Biodiversity Research, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, 31900, Kampar, Malaysia d IPVolusi Sdn Bhd, A-3-3A, Centrio Pantai Hillpark, No. 1, Jln Pantai Murni, 59200, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia article info Article history: Received 20 September 2019 Received in revised form 1 January 2020 Accepted 1 January 2020 Available online 11 January 2020 Keywords: Phytobial remediation Arsenic Hyperaccumulators Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria (PGPB) Toxicity Modified PGPB abstract Phytobial remediation is an innovative tool that uses plants and microbes to mitigate Arsenic (As) contamination of the environment. Recently, plant growth-promoting bac- teria (PGPB) that assists phytoremediation has been highly touted for both improving plant metal tolerance and promoting plant growth while achieving the goal of large-scale removal of As. This review focuses on the PGPB characteristics influencing plants and the mechanisms in which they function to overcome/lessen As-induced adversities. Several recent examples of mechanisms responsible for increasing the availability of As to plants and coping with As stresses facilitated by PGPB will be reviewed. Although drawbacks to phytoremediation have been reported, encouraging results have been developed with regular monitoring. Introducing PGPB-assisted phytoremediation of As in a field requires an assessment of the environmental effects of PGPB, especially with respect to the impacts on indigenous bacteria. © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents 1. Introduction............................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 2. As toxicity.................................................................................................................................................................................................. 3 3. Bioremediation.......................................................................................................................................................................................... 4 4. Environmental clean-up using plants .................................................................................................................................................... 5 4.1. Different types of as phytoremediation .................................................................................................................................... 5 4.2. As hyperaccumulating plants ..................................................................................................................................................... 6 5. Phytobial remediation.............................................................................................................................................................................. 7 6. Plant growth-promoting bacteria ........................................................................................................................................................... 7 6.1. The strategy of using PGPB in plants ........................................................................................................................................ 8 6.2. Genetically modified PGPB ......................................................................................................................................................... 12 7. Conclusion and further research ............................................................................................................................................................ 12 Declaration of competing interest .......................................................................................................................................................... 13 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................................................................................... 14 References ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 14 * Corresponding authors. E-mail addresses: shafinazshahir@utm.my (S. Shahir), m-fazilah@utm.my, fazilah@fbb.utm.my (F. Abd Manan). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eti.2020.100602 2352-1864/© 2020 Elsevier B.V. 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