Aerobic Degradation of Sulfadiazine by Arthrobacter spp.: Kinetics, Pathways, and Genomic Characterization

Two aerobic sulfadiazine (SDZ) degrading bacterial strains, D2 and D4, affiliated with the genus Arthrobacter, were isolated from SDZ-enriched activated sludge. The degradation of SDZ by the two isolates followed first-order decay kinetics. The half-life time of complete SDZ degradation was 11.3 h for strain D2 and 46.4 h for strain D4. Degradation kinetic changed from nongrowth to growth-linked when glucose was introduced as the cosubstrate, and accelerated biodegradation rate was observed after the adaption period. Both isolates could degrade SDZ into 12 biodegradation products via 3 parallel pathways, of which 2-amino-4-hydroxypyrimidine was detected as the principal intermediate product toward the pyrimidine ring cleavage. Compared with five Arthrobacter strains reported previously, D2 and D4 were the only Arthrobacter strains which could degrade SDZ as the sole carbon source. The draft genomes of D2 and D4, with the same completeness of 99.7%, were compared to other genomes of related species. Overall, these two isolates shared high genomic similarities with the s-triazine-degrading Arthrobacter sp. AK-YNIO and the sulfonamide-degrading bacteria Microbacterium sp. C448. In addition, the two genomes contained a few significant regions of difference which may carry the functional genes involved in sulfonamide degradation.