Characterization of erythromycin-degrading strain Aspergillus sydowii W1 revealed by transcriptome analyses

Erythromycin residual, as a persistent, antibiotic pollutant, poses a serious threat to environmental and human health. Thus, developing effective technologies to eliminate erythromycin from the environment is urgent. In this study, a new fungus W1 identified as Aspergillus sydowii which can utilize erythromycin as its only carbon source was isolated from soil contaminated with erythromycin. The degradation efficiency of erythromycin by strain W1 was 84.05% within seven days under optimal conditions (30 degrees C, pH 6.0 and 100 mg L-1 erythromycin). The degradation pathway of erythromycin was proposed from four intermediates detected by HPLC-MS, and enzymes involved in erythromycin metabolism in strain W1 were preliminarily inferred. Notably, genomic and tran-scriptomic analysis also confirmed that strain W1 degrades erythromycin via glycoside hydrolase and esterase activity. This study demonstrated that A. sydowii W1 is a novel erythromycin-degrading strain, which has great potential for removing erythromycin from contaminated soils, and also provides a new perspective for other applications of this particular strain.

Automated summary

In this study, a new fungus named Aspergillus sydowii strain W1, capable of utilizing erythromycin as its carbon source, was isolated from erythromycin-contaminated soil. It was found that strain W1 could degrade erythromycin efficiently (84.05%) within seven days under optimal conditions. The degradation pathway of erythromycin and the enzymes involved in the metabolism were also investigated.