Impact of anthracene addition on microbial community structure in soil microcosms from contaminated and uncontaminated sites.

Objective: This paper aims to investigate the impact of anthracene addition on microbial community in agricultural soil irrigated with tap water or reclaimed wastewater.

Methods: The changes of microbial community were characterized by terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism in combination with 16S rRNA gene clone library analysis.

Results: A significant change in microbial community composition was observed during the biodegradation of anthracene, with dominantly enriched members from the genus Methylophilus.

Conclusion: This work might be useful for developing techniques for the isolation of novel putative PAH degrader.