Biomolecular tools to understand the bioremediation effect of plants and earthworms in contaminated sediments

In this work, analysis of rRNA abundance and diversity has been used to indicate the dominant active population in contaminated sediments treated with two remediation agents (plants and earthworms). The results indicated the ameliorating effect of Paspalum vaginatum and Tamarix gallica plants, combined or not with earthworms, on contaminated sediments, and the start of a bacterial starvation stare related to the decrease of availlable nutrients, especially in the last. Bacterial population modified the transcriptional state to the changing environmental conditions during the bioremediation process. Biomolecular tools revealed the effect of contaminants on the active bacteria as well as their response to a bioremediation strategy.