Plant secondary metabolites-induced changes in bacterial diversity and activity in contaminated soil

The aim of the study was to investigate how selected natural compounds (naringin, caffeic acid, and limonene) induce shifts in both bacterial community structure and metabolic activity in long-term polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)-contaminated soil and how these changes correlate with chlorobiphenyl-degradation effectivity. We have integrated analytical methods of determining PCB degradation with pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene tag-encoded amplicons amplified from total community metagenome and DNA-stable isotope probing (SIP) as a direct method which links the metabolic process with its microbial originators.