Biological Sciences Division
Published September 28, 2012 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Comparative Metagenomic Analysis of Soil Microbial Communities across Three Hexachlorocyclohexane Contamination Levels

Creators

  • 1. University of Delhi
  • 2. University of Chicago
  • 3. Molecular Research LP

Description

This paper presents the characterization of the microbial community responsible for the in-situ bioremediation of hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH). Microbial community structure and function was analyzed using 16S rRNA amplicon and shotgun metagenomic sequencing methods for three sets of soil samples. The three samples were collected from a HCH-dumpsite (450 mg HCH/g soil) and comprised of a HCH/soil ratio of 0.45, 0.0007, and 0.00003, respectively. Certain bacterial; (Chromohalobacter, Marinimicrobium, Idiomarina, Salinosphaera, Halomonas, Sphingopyxis, Novosphingobium, Sphingomonas and Pseudomonas), archaeal; (Halobacterium, Haloarcula and Halorhabdus) and fungal (Fusarium) genera were found to be more abundant in the soil sample from the HCH-dumpsite. Consistent with the phylogenetic shift, the dumpsite also exhibited a relatively higher abundance of genes coding for chemotaxis/motility, chloroaromatic and HCH degradation (lin genes). Reassembly of a draft pangenome of Chromohalobacter salaxigenes sp. (~8X coverage) and 3 plasmids (pISP3, pISP4 and pLB1; 13X coverage) containing lin genes/clusters also provides an evidence for the horizontal transfer of HCH catabolism genes.

Notes

Due to the large number of authors, only the first 20 and the University of Chicago authors are included on the above author list. Please download the article for the complete list of authors.

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Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0046219
Other
oai:uchicago.tind.io:10896

Funding

University of Delhi
PURSE Program
Department of Biotechnology, Government of India
BT/PR3301/BCE/8/875/2011
Department of Biotechnology, Government of India
AMAAS/2006–07/NBAIM/CIR
United States Department of Energy
DE-AC02-06CH11357

UChicago Information

Division(s)
Biological Sciences Division
Department(s)
Ecology and Evolution