Date

Spring 2022

Document Type

Master's Thesis (Open Access)

Degree Name

Master of Science (M.S.)

Department

Applied Environmental Science

Abstract

Rain and irrigation can transport pesticides from farmland into surrounding surface waters. Pesticide-contaminated waters are costly to treat and detrimental to public health. Genomic sequencing of pesticide-degrading bacteria can provide insight to using the bacteria as an inexpensive solution for targeted pesticide water treatment. The goal of this project was to generate genome sequences for pesticide-bioremediating bacteria previously isolated from agricultural drainage ditches near Salinas, California using minimal media with the pesticide imidacloprid as the sole carbon source. High quality and high molecular weight DNA from these microbes was used to generate both Oxford Nanopore Technologies MinION and MiSeq sequencing data. This data was then assembled into de novo genome sequences and annotated for likely genetic functions in order to study the molecular mechanism involved in the remediation process and create freely available novel genetic resources. The bacterial strains were most closely related to Microbacterium paraoxydans, Paenarthrobacter aurescens, Microbacterium oxydans. and Pseudarthrobacter phenanthrenivorans. The bacterial genomes include the genes cytochrome P450, ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, and UDP-glycosyltransferase which may be involved in the bacteria’s imidacloprid-bioremediation capabilities.

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