Activated sludge, a microbial ecosystem at industrial wastewater treatment plants, is an active collection of diverse gene pool that creates the intelligence required for coexistence at the cost of pollutants. This study has analyzed one such ecosystem from a site treating wastewater pooled from over 200 different industries. The metagenomics approach used could predict the degradative pathways of more than 30 dominating molecules commonly found in wastewater. Results were extended to design a bioremediation strategy using 4-methylphenol, 2-chlorobenzoate, and 4-chlorobenzoate as target compounds. Catabolic potential required to degrade four aromatic families, namely benzoate family, PAH family, phenol family, and PCB family, was mapped. Results demonstrated a network of diverse genera, where a few phylotypes were seen to contain diverse catabolic capacities and were seen to be present in multiple networks. The study highlights the importance of looking more closely at the microbial community of activated sludge to harness its latent potential. Conventionally treated as a black box, the activated biomass does not perform at its full potential. Metagenomics allows a clearer insight into the complex pathways operating at the site and the detailed documentation of genes allows the activated biomass to be used as a bioresource.

中文翻译：

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通过宏基因组学对微生物群落智能进行解码，以进行有效的废水处理。

活性污泥是工业废水处理厂中的微生物生态系统，它是各种基因库的活跃集合，它以污染物为代价创造了共存所需的情报。这项研究分析了一个处理来自200多个不同行业的废水的站点中的一个这样的生态系统。使用的宏基因组学方法可以预测废水中常见的30多种主要分子的降解途径。结果扩展到设计使用4-甲基苯酚，2-氯苯甲酸酯和4-氯苯甲酸酯作为目标化合物的生物修复策略。绘制了降解四个芳香族（即苯甲酸酯族，PAH族，苯酚族和PCB族）所需的分解代谢势。结果证明了一个由不同属组成的网络，其中一些系统型具有不同的分解代谢能力，并存在于多个网络中。该研究强调了密切关注活性污泥的微生物群落以利用其潜在潜能的重要性。通常被视为黑匣子，活化的生物质不能发挥其全部潜力。元基因组学可以使人们更清楚地了解在该地点运行的复杂途径，而详细的基因记录则可以将活化的生物质用作生物资源。