Bioengineering (Aug 2023)

Bioremediation of Neonicotinoid Pesticide, Imidacloprid, Mediated by <i>Bacillus cereus</i>

  • Farah Naz Talpur,
  • Ahsanullah Unar,
  • Sana Kanwal Bhatti,
  • Laila Alsawalha,
  • Dalia Fouad,
  • Humaira Bashir,
  • Hassan Imran Afridi,
  • Farid Shokry Ataya,
  • Ohoud A. Jefri,
  • Muhammad Sohail Bashir

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/bioengineering10080951
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 8
p. 951

Abstract

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Imidacloprid, a toxic pesticide of the chloronicotinyl category, is employed extensively in agricultural fields, and its exposure causes serious health issues. Biodegradation is considered to be a green and economical approach to remediate pesticides. Herein, imidacloprid degradation efficiency of Bacillus sp. is highlighted, among which Bacillus cereus exhibited the greatest degradation; optimization of experimental variables (pH, imidacloprid and agitation time) via Box–Behnken factorial design and analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed 92% biodegradation at the initial substrate concentration of 0.03 mM, aerobically in 11 days under favorable pH 7. The subsequent metabolites, identified through liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, were 5-hydroxy imidacloprid, imidacloprid-guanidine and 6-chloronicotinic acid.

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