Abstract
Antibiotics have become a concern in the aquatic environments owing to the potential development of bacterial resistances. Thus, this study evaluated the removal of cephalexin (CEP) and erythromycin (ERY) from a local wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluent, mediated by microalgae-bacteria consortium. Likewise, the removal of correlated antibiotics resistance genes blaTEM and ermB was also assessed. The incubation results showed that the added concentrations of selected antibiotics did not restrain the consortium growth. Moreover, CEP and ERY were almost completely removed after the cultivation period, reaching total removals of 96.54% and 92.38%, respectively. The symbiotic interaction between microalgae and bacteria plays a role in the kinetics removal of CEP and ERY. The abundance of blaTEM and ermB was reduced by 0.56 and 1.75 logs, respectively. Lastly, our results suggest that technology based on natural microalgae-bacteria consortium could be a potential alternative to improve the quality of WWTP effluents.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP), Multicenter Postgraduation Program in Chemistry - Minas Gerais (PPGMQ-MG), and the Autonomous Water and Sewage Service (SAAE) in Itabirito District, Minas Gerais State, Brazil.
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The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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This study received financial support from the Coordination for Improvement of Higher-Level Personnel (CAPES), the Foundation for Research Support of the Minas Gerais State (FAPEMIG), the National Research Council of Brazil (CNPq), the Research and Projects Financier (FINEP), the Brazilian National Health Foundation (FUNASA), and the Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP).
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DASR: Conceptualization, methodology, investigation, and writing—original draft
CCRFC: Methodology and investigation
DRES: Methodology and investigation
ALCB: Methodology, investigation, and formal analysis
ARP: Methodology and investigation
SQS: Resources and writing—review and editing
AFS: Conceptualization, resources, visualization, and writing—review and editing
RJCFA: Conceptualization, writing—review and editing—project administration, funding acquisition, and supervision
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da Silva Rodrigues, .A., da Cunha, C.C.R.F., do Espirito Santo, D.R. et al. Removal of cephalexin and erythromycin antibiotics, and their resistance genes, by microalgae-bacteria consortium from wastewater treatment plant secondary effluents. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 67822–67832 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15351-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-15351-x