Despite extensive studies on dibutyl phthalate (DBP) degradation in isolated bacterial cultures, the primary degraders, community dynamics, and metabolic pathways involved in its biotransformation within complex sediment microbial communities remain poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to investigate the biotransformation mechanism of DBP by microorganisms in a sediment–water system by employing gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, metagenomic analysis, and bacterial isolation techniques. We observed that DBP b...
