Valorizing fungal diversity for the degradation of fluoroquinolones
Imen Akrout,
Karima Staita,
Hèla Zouari-Mechichi,
Bouthaina Ghariani,
Marwa Khmaissa,
David Navarro,
Annick Doan,
Quentin Albert,
Craig Faulds,
Giuliano Sciara,
Eric Record,
Tahar Mechichi
Affiliations
Imen Akrout
Université de Sfax, Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Sfax, Laboratoire de Biochimie et de Génie Enzymatique des Lipases, 3038 Sfax, Tunisia; Aix-Marseille Université, INRAE, UMR1163, Biodiversité et Biotechnologie Fongiques, 13288 Marseille, France
Karima Staita
Université de Sfax, Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Sfax, Laboratoire de Biochimie et de Génie Enzymatique des Lipases, 3038 Sfax, Tunisia; Aix-Marseille Université, INRAE, UMR1163, Biodiversité et Biotechnologie Fongiques, 13288 Marseille, France
Hèla Zouari-Mechichi
Université de Sfax, Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Sfax, Laboratoire de Biochimie et de Génie Enzymatique des Lipases, 3038 Sfax, Tunisia
Bouthaina Ghariani
Université de Sfax, Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Sfax, Laboratoire de Biochimie et de Génie Enzymatique des Lipases, 3038 Sfax, Tunisia
Marwa Khmaissa
Université de Sfax, Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Sfax, Laboratoire de Biochimie et de Génie Enzymatique des Lipases, 3038 Sfax, Tunisia
David Navarro
Aix-Marseille Université, INRAE, UMR1163, Biodiversité et Biotechnologie Fongiques, 13288 Marseille, France
Annick Doan
Aix-Marseille Université, INRAE, UMR1163, Biodiversité et Biotechnologie Fongiques, 13288 Marseille, France
Quentin Albert
Aix-Marseille Université, INRAE, UMR1163, Biodiversité et Biotechnologie Fongiques, 13288 Marseille, France
Craig Faulds
Aix-Marseille Université, INRAE, UMR1163, Biodiversité et Biotechnologie Fongiques, 13288 Marseille, France
Giuliano Sciara
Aix-Marseille Université, INRAE, UMR1163, Biodiversité et Biotechnologie Fongiques, 13288 Marseille, France
Université de Sfax, Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Sfax, Laboratoire de Biochimie et de Génie Enzymatique des Lipases, 3038 Sfax, Tunisia; Corresponding author.
Continued widespread use of antibiotics, especially fluoroquinolones, raises environmental concerns, as its driving bacterial resistance and disrupts microbial ecosystems. Here we investigate the biodegradation of ten fluoroquinolone antibiotics (six for medical use and four for veterinary use) by ligninolytic fungi, including Trametes versicolor, Bjerkandera adusta, Porosterum spadiceum, Irpex lacteus, Pleuroteus ostreatus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, Pycnoporus cinnabarinus, Ganoderma lucidum, and Gloeophyllum trabeum. The results show significant variations between strains in the efficiency of antibiotic transformation. B. adusta and P. spadiceum were the fungi that most efficiently reduced antibiotic concentrations and were able to totally degrade eight and six antibiotics, respectively, within a 15-day period. T. versicolor and P. ostreatus also showed the ability to effectively degrade antibiotics. Specifically, T. versicolor degraded six out of the ten fluoroquinolone antibiotics by more than 70 %, while P. ostreatus degraded the tested antibiotics between 43 % and 100 %. The remaining antibiotic activity did not always correlate with a reduction in antibiotic concentrations, which points to the presence of post-transformation antimicrobial metabolites. This study also explores the potential mechanisms used by these fungi to remove selected models of fluroquinolones via enzymatic routes, such as oxidation by laccases, heme-peroxidases, and cytochrome P450, or via adsorption on fungal biomass.