Complex Chlorinated Pesticide Contaminated Soil Metagenome

Microorganisms utilizing organic pollutants as sole carbon and energy source contribute to the metabolism of these compounds. Compounds resistant to degradation tend to persist in the environment and cause health hazards. The diversity of the microbial populations and their functional genes involved in xenobiotic degradation in a contaminated environment is yet to be understood completely. Previous studies based on enrichment culture approach and culture independent 16S rDNA method, from our group have provided insights in to the degradation potential existing in the contaminated sites; yet our knowledge of the relationship between microbial assemblages and their function in a pesticide contaminated soil ecosystem is very limited. The aim of this study is comprehensive characterization of the microbial populations occurring in a complex chemicals contaminated soil. This would also help in understanding the community composition and their functions for an ecologically significant process such as bioremediation. The major focus of the metagenome analyses is to understand the microbial degradation process of organic pollutants in such sites. For this, we collected soil samples from different areas surrounding the chlorinated pesticide manufacturing unit of the Hindustan Insecticide Limited (10°N; 76.30ºE), Kochi, India. We have extracted total DNA from all samples and processed for metagenomic library preparation and sequencing using Illumina HiSeq protocol.