The Ganga is the largest river in India, functioning as a vital resource for agriculture, drinking water, and religious ceremonies. However, it became highly polluted due to the contamination of industrial effluents and untreated sewage, resulting in a loss of aquatic biodiversity. This research examined the microbial diversity, Functional Gene annotation, antibiotic resistance and plastic-xenobiotic degrading enzymes in sediment metagenomes from the river Ganga. W e used a high-resolution metagenomics technique with the Illumina HiSeq 2500 to discover the structure of the community microbiome and its functions in the sediments of the r iver Ganga. Bacteria are more dominant in the microorganisms in sediment samples from the river Ganga. Pseudomonadota is the most abundant bacterial phylum in sediment samples. Genes involved in the breakdown of xenobiotic chemicals, such as nitrotoluene, benzoate, aminobenzoate, chlorocyclohexane, and chlorobenzene, were significantly overrepresented in the microbiome of contaminated areas. Pathway analysis using the KEGG database found a higher abundance of genes involved in energy metabolism, including oxidative phosphorylation, nitrogen, methane, sulfur, and carbon fixation pathways, in the Ganga sediment metagenome data. Pollutant degrading enzymes are more abundant in contaminated microbiomes, indicating that they play a role in plastic and dye breakdown. Overall, our study has provided information on bacterial diversity and dynamics in community structure and function from contaminated river microbiomes, which is predicted to pave the way for the discovery of novel functional genes/enzymes with potential applications in health and bioremediation. Further, this study will aid in pollution reduction and the sustainable management of river ecosystems.
Keywords Metagenomics, River Ganga, Microbial Diversity, Functional Genomics, Antimicrobial resistance genes