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Mineralization of high concentrations of the endocrine disruptor dibutyl phthalate by Fusarium culmorum

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Abstract

Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) is a widely used plasticizer, whose presence in the environment as a pollutant raises concern because of its endocrine-disrupting toxicity. Growth kinetics, glucose uptake, biodegradation constant of DBP (k), half-life of DBP biodegradation (t1/2) and percentage of removal efficiency (%E) were evaluated for Fusarium culmorum grown on media containing glucose and different concentrations of DBP (500 and 1000 mg/l). Intermediate compounds of biodegraded DBP were identified by GC–MS and a novel DBP biodegradation pathway was proposed on the basis of the intermolecular flow of electrons of the intermediates identified using quantum chemical modeling. F. culmorum degraded 99% of both 1000 and 500 mg of DBP/l after an incubation period of 168 and 228 h, respectively. %E was 99.5 and 99.3 for 1000 and 500 mg of DBP/l, respectively. The k was 0.0164 and 0.0231 h−1 for 500 and 1000 mg of DBP/l, respectively. DBP was fully metabolized to fumaric and malic acids, which are compounds that enter into the Krebs cycle. F. culmorum has a promising ability for bioremediation of environments polluted with DBP because it efficiently degrades DBP and uses high concentrations of this compound as carbon and energy source.

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful to the Mexican Council for Science and Technology (CONACyT) for providing a doctoral scholarship (no. 351476) to Miriam Ahuactzin-Pérez.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Biotechnology, Research Centre for Biological Sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Ixtacuixtla, CP. 90062, Tlaxcala, Mexico

    Carmen Sánchez

  2. Departamento de Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Mexico City, Mexico

    María Concepción Gutiérrez-Ruíz

  3. Doctorado en Biología Experimental, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Mexico City, Mexico

    Miriam Ahuactzin-Pérez

  4. Facultad de Agrobiología, Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Ixtacuixtla, Tlaxcala, Mexico

    Miriam Ahuactzin-Pérez

  5. Universidad Politécnica de Tlaxcala, San Pedro Xalcatzinco, Tepeyanco, C. P. 90180, Tlaxcala, Mexico

    Saúl Tlecuitl-Beristain, Jorge García-Dávila & Ericka Santacruz-Juárez

  6. Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla, C. P. 72410, Puebla, Mexico

    Manuel González-Pérez

Authors
  1. Miriam Ahuactzin-Pérez
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  2. Saúl Tlecuitl-Beristain
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  3. Jorge García-Dávila
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  4. Ericka Santacruz-Juárez
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  5. Manuel González-Pérez
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  6. María Concepción Gutiérrez-Ruíz
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  7. Carmen Sánchez
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Contributions

MA-P; did the experimental work (Ph.D. thesis). ST-B and ES-J; drew the DBP biodegradation pathway. JG-D; did the GC–MS analysis. MG-P; did the quantum chemical studies. MCG-R; co-supervised MAP Ph.D. thesis and checked the MS. CS; co-supervised MAP Ph.D. thesis and wrote the MS.

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Correspondence to Carmen Sánchez.

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Ahuactzin-Pérez, M., Tlecuitl-Beristain, S., García-Dávila, J. et al. Mineralization of high concentrations of the endocrine disruptor dibutyl phthalate by Fusarium culmorum. 3 Biotech 8, 42 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13205-017-1065-2

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