Biodegradation of pharmaceuticals by bacteria isolated from estuarine environment - cleanup technologies through nature based processes

New sustainable technologies are needed to tackle pharmaceuticals contamination in different environmental compartments. Bioremediation technology, using native microorganisms with capacity for partial or complete elimination of contaminants, can be considered. This work investigated the capability of different bacterial strains to biodegrade paroxetine and bezafibrate, either as a bacterial consortium or as a single strain. These strains were isolated from bacterial cultures previously enriched under static conditions with paroxetine or bezafibrate, using as inoculum an estuarine sediment. All strains were identified through 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Degradation potential was accessed by analyzing pharmaceutical compounds in the culture medium and fluoride ion release (only for paroxetine). The genus Pseudomonas, widely reported in biodegradation studies, was predominant among the isolated bacterial strains. Most bacterial strains showed potential to degrade paroxetine (55%-100%) as a single strain in co-metabolism with sodium acetate. Furthermore, bacterial consortia also presented high removal efficiencies (>85%) for paroxetine throughout 4 weeks. For bezafibrate, tests showed a high potential of the bacterial consortia to degrade this compound (>90%). The obtained results highlight the potential of native microorganisms to degrade different pharmaceuticals which should be addressed for future development of bioremediation technologies for the recovery of contaminated environments.