Fungal weathering of asbestos in semi arid regions of India.

The science of Geomicrobiology, which deals with mineral- microbe interaction in nature contributes effectively to three important processes namely- mineral and metal bioremediation, biomining and soil mineral formation by microbes. Bioremediation one of the important process of the above, degrades or transforms hazardous contaminants to less toxic compounds. Several groups of fungi have proved highly efficient in this aspect, with asbestos being one such toxic entity in the environment on which their activity was studied.