Prior to 1980, chloroethenes were generally believed to be recalcitrant
to degradation. Efforts to remediate sites polluted by this group of
compounds were thus limited to the ineffective and tedious
pump-and-treat method. The environmental significance of chloroethenes
and the absence of effective alternative physical remediation methods
have warranted intense scientific investigation into the role of
microorganisms for detoxifying these environmentally important
compounds to benign products. Several microbial mechanisms have
therefore been identified to significantly degrade these compounds in
soil and ground water polluted systems. This paper provides a
mini-review of such mechanisms with the view of understanding the
biodegradation processes for better exploitation for bioremediation of
chloroethene contaminants, which continue to be of serious
environmental challenges