Medical/Public Health relevance
Aerobic azoreductases possess a significant potential for the purely aerobic treatment of wastewaters which are colored by azo dyes. Due to this significant use, the gene causing this activity was cloned from Xenophilus azovorans in order to further progress research of this enzyme for future genetic modifications. X. azovorans is relevant in that it naturally helps in wastewater treatment by using enzymes to break down chemicals within the waste. Untreated wastewater can spread disease and contaminate drinking water sources. The report, titled A Global Decline in the Microbiological Safety of Water: A Call for Action, estimates that, worldwide, 80 percent of infectious diseases may be water related. Diarrheal diseases traced to contaminated water kill approximately 2 million children and cause about 900 million episodes of illness each year.
References
Blümel, S., & Knackmuss, H. (2002, August 01). Silke Blümel. Retrieved April 11, 2018, from http://aem.asm.org/content/68/8/3948.full
(n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2018, from https://engineering.purdue.edu/~frankenb/NU-prowd/disease.htm