Biodegradation of Tetracycline Under Various Conditions and Effects on Microbial Community

Abstract

Five hundred tons of antibiotics are consumed yearly in the world. In this study, the biodegradation characteristics of tetracycline (TET) under nitrate-reducing, sulfate-reducing, and methanogenic conditions were determined by batch tests. Also, effects of TET on mixed microbial cultures were revealed by microbiological analysis. In this scope, gas generation and composition, dissolved organic carbon, and electron acceptor concentrations were monitored during 120 days. Additionally, changes on quantities of specific microbial groups were determined by Q-PCR. TET showed non-biodegradable behavior under nitrate- and sulfate-reducing conditions, whereas slightly biodegradable behavior under methanogenic conditions approximately 46 % degradation. The effects of TET on the abundance of mixed culture varied according to taxonomic units. Sulfate-reducing bacteria were inhibited by TET, while archaeal, bacterial, and methanogenic populations were not affected significantly.

Elimination patterns of worldwide used sulfonamides and tetracyclines during anaerobic fermentation

“…As the 4-epimer was included in the quantification, the elimination cannot be attributed to epimerization. Cetecioglu et al found a biodegradation rate of 46% for tetracycline under methanogenic conditions (Cetecioglu et al, 2014). The authors suggested that the elimination respective mineralization might be lower in a full-scale reactor due to differences in the ionic strength of the matrices.…”

Degradation of oxytetracycline and its impacts on biogas-producing microbial community structure

“…However, even though antibiotics are inhibitory for bacteria, they are also biologically degradable. For example, tetracycline was found to be biodegradable under methanogenic conditions [13]. Thus, anaerobic digestion, under methanogenic conditions, of antibiotic containing manure can be beneficial since it decreases antibiotic concentrations.…”

Performance and microbial community variations of anaerobic digesters under increasing tetracycline concentrations

“…Total COD input (0.69 g per sampling event) was the same across all four digesters except for R4, which had 0.21% higher COD input than the other reactors. This is due to the addition of 20 mg/L TC-HCl, which could have served as a potential substrate as shown from earlier studies that demonstrated the biodegradability of TC (Álvarez et al 2010; Cetecioglu et al 2014). COD converted to biomass was calculated based on sludge wasted per sampling event, average microbial degradation/regeneration rates, and biomass accumulated.…”