Skip to main content
Log in

Oxidation of chlortetracycline and its isomers by Botrytis aclada laccase in the absence of mediators: pH dependence and identification of transformation products by LC–MS

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biodegradation Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Tetracyclines are antibiotics considered emerging pollutants and currently, wastewater treatment plants are not able to remove them efficiently. Laccases are promising enzymes for bioremediation because they can oxidize a wide variety of substrates. The aim of this study was to evaluate the Botrytis aclada laccase for the oxidation of chlortetracycline and its isomers in the absence of a mediator molecule, at a pH range between 3.0 to 7.0, and to characterize the transformation products by LC–MS. Chlortetracycline and three isomers were detected in both, controls and reaction mixtures at 0 h and in controls after 48 h of incubation but in different proportions depending on pH. An additional isomer was also detected, but only in the presence of BaLac. Based on the transformation products identified in the enzymatic reactions and information from literature, we assembled a network of transformation pathways starting from chlortetracycline and its isomers. The spectrometric analysis of the products indicated the probable occurrence of oxygen insertion, dehydrogenation, demethylation and deamination reactions. Four new products were identified, and we also described a novel transformation product without the chloro group. We observed that increasing pH led to higher diversity of main products. This is the first study using the laccase from fungi Botrytis aclada to oxidate chlortetracycline and its isomers and it can be considered as an ecological alternative to be used in bioremediation processes such as wastewater.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Agency for Research and Development (ANID)/Scholarship Program/DOCTORADO BECAS CHILE/2016—21160533 for the Ph.D. financial support (to NGF), and Valorización de la Investigación Universitaria FONDEF-VIU16P0084 (to JCC and RC).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Conceptualization: NGF, AB, RC; methodology: NGF, JCC; formal analysis: NGF, AB; investigation: NGF, JCC; writing—original draft and visualization: NGF, AB; writing—review and editing: AB, EP, RC; resources: AB, EP, RC; supervision: RC.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ricardo Cabrera.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary Information

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

de Fátima, N.G., Barriga, A., Cáceres, J.C. et al. Oxidation of chlortetracycline and its isomers by Botrytis aclada laccase in the absence of mediators: pH dependence and identification of transformation products by LC–MS. Biodegradation 35, 155–171 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-023-10046-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10532-023-10046-1

Keywords

Navigation