Removal of cephalexin and erythromycin antibiotics, and their resistance genes, by microalgae-bacteria consortium from wastewater treatment plant secondary effluents.
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Date
2021
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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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Keywords
Antibiotic resistancegenes - ARGs, Bioremediation, Emerging contaminants, Removal
Citation
RODRIGUES, D. A. da S. et al. Removal of cephalexin and erythromycin antibiotics, and their resistance genes, by microalgae-bacteria consortium from wastewater treatment plant secondary effluents. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, v. 28, p. 67822-67832, 2021. Disponível em: <https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11356-021-15351-x>. Acesso em: 29 abr. 2022.