The present study involved identification of genes which are present in the genome of native bacteria to make them effective tools for bioremediation of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). During this study, forty-one POPs (naphthalene, toluene and petrol) metabolizing bacteria were isolated from tannery effluents and petrol contaminated soil samples by successive enrichment culturing. The taxonomic diversity and gene repertoire conferring POPs degradation ability to the isolated bacterial community were studied through whole genome shotgun sequencing of DNA consortium. The DNA consortium contained equimolar concentration of DNA extracted from each bacterial isolate using organic method. To add a double layer of confirmation the established DNA consortium was subjected to 16S rRNA metagenome sequencing and whole genome shotgun sequencing analysis. Biodiversity analysis revealed that the consortium was composed of phyla Firmicutes (80 %), Proteobacteria (12 %) and Actinobacteria (5%). Genera found included Bacillus (45 %), Burkholderia (25 %), Brevibacillus (9%) and Geobacillus (4%). Functional profiling of consortium helped us to identify genes associated with degradation pathways of a variety of organic compounds including toluene, naphthalene, caprolactam, benzoate, aminobenzoate, xylene, 4-hydroxyphenyl acetic acid, biphenyl, anthracene, aminobenzoate, chlorocyclohexane, chlorobenzene, n-phenylalkanoic acid, phenylpropanoid, salicylate, gentisate, central meta cleavage of aromatic compounds, cinnamic acid, catechol and procatechuate branch of β-ketoadipate pathway, phenyl-acetyl CoA and homogentisate catabolic pathway. The information thus generated has ensured not only biodegradation potential but also revealed many possible future applications of the isolated bacteria.

本研究涉及鉴定天然细菌基因组中存在的基因，以使其成为持久性有机污染物（POPs）生物修复的有效工具。在这项研究中，通过连续富集培养从制革废水和汽油污染的土壤样品中分离出41种POPs（萘，甲苯和汽油）代谢细菌。通过对DNA财团的全基因组shot弹枪测序研究了赋予分离的细菌群落持久性有机污染物降解能力的分类学多样性和基因库。DNA联盟包含使用有机方法从每种细菌分离物中提取的等摩尔浓度的DNA。为了增加双层确认，对已建立的DNA财团进行了16S rRNA元基因组测序和全基因组shot弹枪测序分析。生物多样性分析表明，该财团由坚韧菌门（80％），变形杆菌（12％）和放线菌（5％）组成。发现属芽孢杆菌（45％），伯克霍尔德菌（25％），短杆菌（9％）和土杆菌（4％）。财团的功能分析帮助我们鉴定了与多种有机化合物的降解途径相关的基因，这些有机化合物包括甲苯，萘，己内酰胺，苯甲酸酯，氨基苯甲酸酯，二甲苯，4-羟基苯基乙酸，联苯，蒽，氨基苯甲酸酯，氯环己烷，氯苯，n-苯基链烷酸，苯基丙烷，水杨酸酯，龙胆酸酯，芳族化合物的中心间位裂解，肉桂酸，邻苯二酚和β-酮己二酸酯途径的儿茶酚和丙酸酯分支，苯基乙酰基辅酶A和高纯脲分解代谢途径。这样产生的信息不仅确保了生物降解的潜力，而且还揭示了分离细菌的许多可能的未来应用。