HCH Bioremediation

Another major area his group is working on, is the molecular genetics of hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) degradation by sphingomonads that could eventually lead to the development of a technology for bioremediation of HCH contaminated soils. He has extensively studied the degradation of HCH by Sphingobium indicum (formerly known as Sphingomonas paucimobilis B90A). His group has unravelled the physiological and genetic aspects of HCH degradation in B90A and has provided evidence for the stability horizontal transfer of ' lin ' genes (responsible for HCH degradation) among different bacteria. The study has also led to the cloning of genes responsible for the mineralization of α- and γ- isomers of HCH in B90A and dynamics of ' lin ' gene expression. The group is working on deciphering the degradation pathway (hitherto not known) of α- δ- β and ε- HCH. Alongside, his group is attempting bioremediation of HCH contaminated sites by 'bioaugmentation', 'biostimulation' and 'enzymatic bioremediation' approaches..

Important Papers

• Pandey R., Lucent D., Kumari K., Sharma P., Lal R ., Oakeshott J. G., and Pandey G. 2014. Kinetic and sequence-structure-function analysis of LinB enzyme variants with β- and δ-hexachlorocyclohexane. PLoS One. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0103632.
• Nayyar N., Sangwan N., Kohli P., Verma H., Kumar R., Negi V., Oldach P., Mahato NK., Gupta V., Lal R . 2014. Hexachlorocyclohexane: Persistence, Toxicity and Decontamination. Rev Environ Health . 29 : 49-52.
• Sharma , P., Jindal , S., Bala , K., Kumari, K., Niharika, N., Kaur ,J., Pandey , G., Pandey , R., Russell , R. J., Oakeshott , J. G. and Lal, R. 2013. Functional screening of enzymes and bacteria for the dechlorination of hexachlorocyclohexane by a high-throughput colorimetric assay. Biodegradation. 48 : 65–79. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10532-013-9650-5