Thermal gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of bioprotection from pollutant shocks in the activated sludge microbial community

Changes in the microbial community found in a highly-complex activates sludge ecosystem after the addition of phenols have been studied through thethermal gradient gel electrophoresis analysis of ribosomal sequences from community DNA. The introduction of phenols decreases the Shannon index of diversity from 1.13 to 0.22 indicating that the microbial community structure has been compromised. The addition of genetically-engineered Pseudomonas sp. strain B13 SN45RE protected the microbial community from further degradation while the nonengineered parental strain B13 did not offer any protection.