Occurrence of endocrine disrupting compounds in aqueous environment and their bacterial degradation: A review

Abstract

Endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), represented by steroidal estrogens (estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2), estradiol (E3) and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) and xenoestrogens (bisphenol A (BPA) and nonylphenol (NP)), are pollutants with estrogenic activity at very low Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 01:37 14 August 2015 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 2concentrations and are emerging as a major concern for water quality. They enter into aqueous environment mainly through discharge of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents. The paper completely reviews recent studies on the occurrence of the six categories of EDCs in different aqueous environment, namely surface water, groundwater, drinking water and wastewater in WWTPs all over the world. Furthermore, due to the high bioactivity, ubiquitous distribution, potential ecological effects and persistence of the six categories of EDCs, the work summarizes current knowledge of their bacterial biodegradation, which is considered to be an efficient and promising method of removing EDCs. A wide range of bacteria isolated from various environments and affiliated to all kinds of genera with different degradation powers for EDCs are collected in this review in order to select specific strains adapting well to local conditions for bioremediation of freshwater, seawater, soil, sediment with low or high levels of EDCs. Finally, it emphasizes the need for further research and summarizes the future tasks that emerge from the data gathered here.

Reversible Reduction of Estrone to 17β‐Estradiol by Rhizobium, Sphingopyxis, and Pseudomonas Isolates from the Las Vegas Wash

“…This study resulted in the characterization of estrogen transformation by environmental isolates of two genera not previously known to transform estrogens, Rhizobium and Sphingopyxis , both belonging to the class Alphaproteobacteria in the phylum Proteobacteria. Various members of the class Alphaproteobacteria are well known for their abilities to degrade estrogens (reviewed in Yu et al [2013] and Zhang et al [2016]); however, these two genera have never previously been implicated in estrogen transformations. Rhizobium is a member of the family Rhizobiaceae, which includes known estrogen‐transforming bacteria in the genera Aminobacter (Yu et al, 2007) and Phyllobacterium (Pauwels et al, 2008).…”

“…A diversity of bacteria is known to transform estrogens, including members of the phyla Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria (reviewed in Yu et al [2013] and Zhang et al [2016]). Many of these microorganisms can co‐metabolically oxidize E2 to E1, and some can degrade estrogens to small, nontoxic products, by using estrogens as sole carbon sources and electron donors for heterotrophic growth, with examples including Novosphingobium strain ARI‐1 (Fujii et al, 2002), Sphingomonas sp.…”

Quantifying the UK Online Interest in Substances of the EU Watchlist for Water Monitoring: Diclofenac, Estradiol, and the Macrolide Antibiotics

“…It has been shown that their detection in wastewater adds to the increased antimicrobial resistance, as well as toxicity due to Clarithromycin and Erythromycin. Estradiol is also not fully degraded, and its presence in surface waters [39] affects sea life [41]. As wastewater treatment is suggested to not completely remove the concentrations of these substances in the aquatic environment [14,[16][17][18]39], the solution could be to manage the pollution at the source, which is the human, veterinarian, and agricultural intake and use.…”

Exploitation of Trametes versicolor for bioremediation of endocrine disrupting chemicals in bioreactors

“…Since the beginning of 2000s, physical and chemical processes were used to remove such contaminants from wastewater, but they are commonly expensive and may generate a large volume of sludge [4]. On the other hand, biological wastewater treatments exploiting bacteria or fungi are attractive options as they could be cost-effective and environmentally friendly [5,6]. However, most of EDCs are present in the environment at a concentration level under the biodegradation threshold of bacteria [7] and /or are recalcitrant to their treatment [8].…”