Abstract: The use of organochlorine and organophosphorus pesticides has been prohibited due to their highly toxicity. In recent years, pyrethroids (PYRs) have been widely used in agricultural production and the environment due to their high efficiency and stability, but the residual hazards caused by their frequent use have become increasingly prominent. 3-Phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA) is one of the major metabolites of PYRs, which is an environmental estrogen with great potential harms. Pesticide residues have seriously affected people’s production and life, which has attracted extensive attention from researchers. PYRs and 3-PBA degrading bacteria have been widely reported, and microbial and enzymatic degradation is recognized as an effective method for reducing or removing pesticide residues from agricultural products and the environment. The continuous development of genetic engineering and molecular biology technology provides a new way to explore methods for reducing pesticide residues. In this article, we summarize the basic properties and residual hazards of PYRs and 3-PBA, and we review the current status of PYRs residues in agricultural products and the environment as well as recent progress in research on the modes of microbial metabolism and the mechanisms of microbial adsorption and degradation of PYRs. Moreover, we give an outlook on enzymes degrading PYRs and their genetic engineering in order to provide a reference for solving the problem of pesticide residues in agricultural products and the environment.

Key words: pyrethroid pesticides; 3-phenoxybenzoic acid; adsorption and degradation mechanisms; bioadsorption; biodegradation; degrading enzymes