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Changes in microbial communities during the removal of natural and synthetic glucocorticoids in three types of river-based aquifer media

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Abstract

Glucocorticoids in sewage treatment plant effluent discharged into rivers could influence microbial community structure in river-based aquifer media and affect groundwater quality. The effect of representative natural and synthetic glucocorticoids, namely, hydrocortisone (CRL) and dexamethasone (DEX), on the microbial communities in three types of river-based aquifer media was evaluated. The aquifer media was taken from the Beijing Chaobai River (BJ), Hebei Hutuo River (HB), and Tianjin Duliujian River (TJ) and they exhibited different physicochemical and biological properties. The attenuation rates of CRL were 0.175, 0.119, and 0.096 day−1 and for DEX were 0.222, 0.151, and 0.113 day−1 in the media from BJ, HB, and TJ, respectively. All the attenuation rates followed first-order kinetics. The biodiversity decreased significantly with CRL and DEX amendment. The microbial community composition differed in relation to the type of aquifer media and glucocorticoids, especially for BJ at the phylum level. In BJ, the major bacterial genus was Bacillus and in HB it was Rhodobacter. However, in TJ, three bacterial genera (Methylophilus, Methylobacillus, and Methylotenera) and Candidatus_Nitrososphaera were predominant in the microflora. All these genera were able to degrade both CRL and DEX. Distance-based redundancy analysis revealed that total organic carbon (TOC), the type of glucocorticoid, and the pH were the main factors explaining the variations in microbial community composition.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the financial support received from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51678052) and the Beijing Science and Technology Commission (Nos. Z171100000717003 and D161100000216002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Xinyu Li, Weifang Ma & Panyue Zhang

  2. Graduate School of International Relationship, International University of Japan, Minami Uonuma, 9497248, Japan

    Mengsi Ma

  3. Department of Environmental Engineering and Water Technology, UNESCO-IHE, Institute for Water Education, Westvest 7, 2611AX, Delft, The Netherlands

    Eldon R. Rene

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  1. Xinyu Li
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  2. Mengsi Ma
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  3. Eldon R. Rene
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  4. Weifang Ma
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Correspondence to Weifang Ma.

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Responsible editor: Robert Duran

Highlights

• Attenuation rate of hydrocortisone and dexamethasone followed first-order kinetics

• Microbial communities transformed to microflora with degrading capacity to glucocorticoid

• Glucocorticoids altered the microbial community composition in different aquifer media

• Four bacterial genera limited the glucocorticoid attenuation rate and metabolites

• Total organic carbon had a significant effect on the microbial community composition

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Li, X., Ma, M., Rene, E.R. et al. Changes in microbial communities during the removal of natural and synthetic glucocorticoids in three types of river-based aquifer media. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26, 33953–33962 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2748-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2748-x

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