AQSA AKRAM2025-11-192025-11-192022https://escholar.umt.edu.pk/handle/123456789/10995Arsenic is a ubiquitous element that occurs in many minerals. From both the ecological and individual health standpoints arsenic is found to be toxic and carcinogenic. The most prominent forms of arsenic are arsenate (As-V) and arsenite (As-III) compounds. Many microbes have the ability to resist and detoxify arsenic. The microbial communities cannot be studied thoroughly by culture dependent methods as most microbes cannot be cultured in laboratories. Metagenomics approach gives us comprehensively picture of the microbial communities present at a site. The goal of this study was to check the bacterial groups that are present in arsenic polluted water and soil samples. For this purpose, metagenomics data from arsenic samples was retrieved from NCBI SRA database. The sequences were analyzed through Mothur software, which was accessed via the Galaxy web server. SILVA reference database was used to classify the sequences. Venn diagram, rarefaction curve, phylogenetic tree, heatmap, diversity indices, relative abundance chart and Krona pie chart were generated. Fluctuating percentage of different bacterial groups were found in different metagenomes. Proteobacteria, Burkholderiales, Myxococcales, Anaerolineales, Rhizobiales, Rhodocyclaies, Psedomonadales, Xanthomonadales, Methylococcales, Acidobacteria, Actinomycetales, Anaerolineales, Desulfuromondales and Bacillias bacteria were found both in soil and water samples. Nitrospirales bacteria was present in only soil samples. Burkholderiales bacteria was present in all most all samples but was more abundant in the water samples. The bacteria was present in all the arsenic contaminated samples might have some role to play in arsenic detoxification. On the other hand many bacterial groups were different in many samples; some were more abundant in water samples while others were more abundant in soil samples. The difference of the microbial communities in water and soil samples was also proven statistically significant through AMOVA test. Those bacteria which only present in some particular samples and absent in other samples showed that these bacteria have specific roles in the relevant environments. These bacteria can be targeted and studied further for possible applications of bioremediation in arsenic contaminated water and soils.enThesis