Deciphering Role of Gut Micro-biome of Earthworms in Bio-remediation Process using Metagenome

Author(s): Shweta Yadav

Over the past few centuries the human activities for exploration of natural resources had a negative impact on the global balance including soil ecosystem. Nature has its ways of resolving imbalances in the environment and organisms are one of the best tools of nature to eliminate toxic pollutants. The biological process of eliminating pollutants (bioremediation) with activities of earthworms and associated gut micro-biome may translate to improve bioremediation process and to improve soil health. Present study focused to decipher role of gut microbes of earthworms using metagenomic approach.

1. Edwards C.A. and Bohlen P.J., 1996. Biology and ecology of earthworms (3rd edition).Chapman & Hall, London p. 426.
2. Gupta Shruti, Kushwah, Tanuja and Yadav Shweta, 2015. Exposure to ZnO-NPs enhanced gut- associated microbial activity in Eisenia fetida Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health Sciences7(2), pp. 9-17, DOI: 10.5897/JTEHS2015.0330
3. Gupta. S., Kushwah. T. and Yadav. S., 2014. Earthworm coelomocytes as a nanoscavanger to ZnO-NPs. Nanoscale Research Letters 9:259.
4. Jinek M., Chylinski K., Fonfara I., Hauer M.,Dounda JS,Charpentier E.,2012. A programmable dual RNA-guided DNA endonucleases in adaptive bacterial immunity. Science 17:816-821.
5. Sinha R.K.,Agrawal Sunita , Chauhan Krunal Chauhan and Valani Dalsukh, 2010.The wonders of earthworms &its vermicompost to farm production:Charles Darwin’s friends of farmers’. with potential to replace destructive chemical fertilizers. Agricultural Sciences 1:76-94.
6. Stürzenbaum S.R., Georgiev O., Morgan A.J. and Kille P., 2004. Cadmium detoxification in earthworms: From genes to cells. Environ. Sci. Technol. 38:6283–6289.