Evaluation of Amoxicillin and Sulfonamide Removal by Bacillus cereus, Enterobacter ludwigii and Enterobacter sp.

Abstract

Most antibiotics are prone to release to the environment due to improper usage. The present study reports the biodegradation Amoxicillin (AMX) and Sulfonamide (SDI) by Bacillus cereus, Enterobacter ludwigii and Enterobacter sp. strains. These trains were previously reported to be degraders of crude oil. Different concentrations of AMX and SDI (0 - 420 ppm) were used to detect Minimum Inhibition Concentration (MIC) by 96 well plate method. Removal of the antibiotic was studied by introducing 0.5ml of starved bacterial suspensions into sterilized freshwater containing each antibiotic at 60ppm and 120ppm accordingly and incubated at 280C with shaking at 100rpm. 0.5ml sample aliquots were removed at 2 days interval for 14 days and analyzed by HPLC. The MIC values for SDI and AMX were recorded as 240ppm, 420 ppm for B. cereus, 120 ppm, 360 ppm for E. ludwigii and 180 ppm and 300ppm for Enterobacter sp., respectively. B. cereus strain completely removed AMX and 80% of SDI after 14 days of incubation.E. ludwigii showed 75% degradation for AMX and 60% for SDI, whilst, Enterobacter sp. degraded 80% (AMX) and 70% (SDI) respectively. Therefore these bacterial strains could be used as a useful bioremediation tool in the removal of antibiotics, contamination in the environment.