SRA

The current study involved the collection of sludge from the effluent treatment plant of a pulp paper mill. Bacterial communities within the sludge were analyzed using high-throughput sequencing, specifically targeting the hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA genes through the Illumina MiSeq platform. A total of 2520 operational taxonomic units (OUT) were identified from 124376 high-quality sequence reads. Taxonomic analysis revealed that Proteobacteria was the most abundant phylum in the sludge, comprising 44.54% of the total bacterial sequences. Other predominant phyla included Bacteroidetes (13.27%), Actinobacteria (8.81%), Planctomycetes (6.23%), Chloroflexi (5.82%), Actinobacteria (5.24%), and Verrucomicrobia (4.1%). These findings highlight the microbial composition in this highly contaminated environment. Moreover, the study suggests that untreated discharge of sludge poses significant environmental risks and could lead to severe health consequences upon exposure to living beings.