25Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Sphinogobacterium sp. are well known for their ability to 26 decontaminate many environmental pollutants like PAHs, dyes, pesticides and plastics. The 27 present study reports the annotation of genomes from P. aeruginosa and Sphinogobacterium sp. 28 that were isolated from compost, based on their ability to degrade poly(lactic acid), PLA, at 29 mesophillic temperatures (~30ºC). Draft genomes of both the strains were assembled from 30 Illumina reads, annotated and viewed with an aim of gaining insight into the genetic elements 31 involved in degradation of PLA. The draft-assembled genome of strain Sphinogobacterium strain 32 S2 was 5,604,691 bp in length with 435 contigs (maximum length of 434,971 bp) and an average 33 G+C content of 43.5%. The assembled genome of P. aeruginosa strain S3 was 6,631,638 bp long 34 with 303 contigs (maximum contig length of 659,181 bp) and an average G+C content 66.17 %. 35A total of 5,385 (60% with annotation) and 6,437 (80% with annotation) protein-coding genes 36 were predicted for strains S2 and S3 respectively. Catabolic genes for biodegradation of xenobiotic 37 and aromatic compounds were identified on both draft genomes. Both strains were found to have 38 the genes attributable to the establishment and regulation of biofilm, with more extensive 39 annotation for this in S3. The genome of P. aeruginosa S3 had the complete cascade of genes 40 involved in the transport and utilization of lactate while Sphinogobacterium strain S2 lacked 41 lactate permease, consistent with its inability to grow on lactate. As a whole, our results reveal and 42 predict the genetic elements providing both strains with the ability to degrade PLA at mesophilic 43 temperature. 44 45 46 47 1. Introduction 48 Poly(lactic acid) (PLA), is a bio-based aliphatic polyester polymer, obtained from sources such as 49 corn sugar, cassava, wheat, rice, potato, and sugar cane, considered renewable [1, 2]. PLA is 50 completely biodegradable under industrial composting conditions [3] as well as under 51 unsupervised environmental conditions where its biodegradation is considered safe [4]. In the last 52 two decades biodegradation of PLA has been extensively studied and many microbial species 53 (actinomycete, bacteria, fungus) have been identified with the ability to degrade PLA [4]. Most of 54 the reported bacterial species are from the family Pseudonocardiaceae, Thermomonosporaceae, 55 Micromonosporaceae, Streptosporangiaceae, Bacillaceae and Thermoactinomycetaceae while 56 the fungal species are mainly from the phylum Basidiomycota (Tremellaceae) and Ascomycota 57 (Trichocomaceae, Hypocreaceae) [5-11]. 58In our previous study we also described four bacterial strains designated as S1, S2, S3 and S4, able 59 to degrade PLA at ambient temperature [12]. Two of the isolated strains, Sphingobacterium sp. 60(S2) and P. aeruginosa (S3), were also evaluated for their PLA degradation in soil microcosms 61 [13]. The genus Sphingobacterium is from Phylum Bacteriodetes, Family Sphingobacteria...