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Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering >> 2019, Volume 13, Issue 6 doi: 10.1007/s11783-019-1168-6

Anaerobic biodegradation of trimethoprim with sulfate as an electron acceptor

1. Shenyang Academy of Environmental Sciences, Shenyang 110167, China
2. Key Laboratory of Environmental Biotechnology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
3. State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, China
4. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Cell Activities and Stress Adaptations, School of Life Science, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
5. The Environmental Monitoring Center of Gansu Province, Lanzhou 730020, China
6. Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
7. Center of Excellence on Hazardous Substance Management (HSM), Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

Available online: 2019-11-15

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Abstract

• Anaerobic biodegradation of trimethoprim (TMP) coupled with sulfate reduction. • Demethylation of TMP is the first step in the acclimated microbial consortia. • The potential degraders and fermenters were enriched in the acclimated consortia. • Activated sludge and river sediment had similar core microbiomes. Trimethoprim (TMP) is an antibiotic frequently detected in various environments. Microorganisms are the main drivers of emerging antibiotic contaminant degradation in the environment. However, the feasibility and stability of the anaerobic biodegradation of TMP with sulfate as an electron acceptor remain poorly understood. Here, TMP-degrading microbial consortia were successfully enriched from municipal activated sludge (AS) and river sediment (RS) as the initial inoculums. The acclimated consortia were capable of transforming TMP through demethylation, and the hydroxyl-substituted demethylated product (4-desmethyl-TMP) was further degraded. The biodegradation of TMP followed a 3-parameter sigmoid kinetic model. The potential degraders (Acetobacterium, Desulfovibrio, Desulfobulbus, and unidentified Peptococcaceae) and fermenters (Lentimicrobium and Petrimonas) were significantly enriched in the acclimated consortia. The AS- and RS-acclimated TMP-degrading consortia had similar core microbiomes. The anaerobic biodegradation of TMP could be coupled with sulfate respiration, which gives new insights into the antibiotic fate in real environments and provides a new route for the bioremediation of antibiotic-contaminated environments.

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