Pharmaceutical compounds could affect the environment adversely if they are not effectively removed from effluents of wastewater treatment plants. Organochloride antibiotics such as triclosan, vancomycin, thiamphenicol, and chloramphenicol often only achieve partial removal in conventional water and wastewater treatment plants. To understand the processes involved in organochloride removal of an anoxic tank, we enriched <i>Dehalococcoides mccartyi</i> strains that are not susceptible to vancomycin and can respire tetrachloroethene (PCE) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). During the enrichment process, microbial community varied in the presence of organohalide antibiotics. Interestingly, the <i>Dehalococcoides</i> strains also showed dechlorination of triclosan. Results of this study shed light on microbial degradation of organohalide antibiotics and microbial community variation in wastewater treatment plants so as to alleviate the spread of antibiotics and the antibiotic resistance genes.

Microbial community variation in organohalide antibiotics containing waterbodies

255th National Meeting (2018)

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