title: Biotransformation of Two Pharmaceuticals by the Ammonia-Oxidizing Archaeon Nitrososphaera gargensis.
abstract: The biotransformation of some micropollutants has previously been observed to be positively associated with ammonia oxidation activities and the transcript abundance of the archaeal ammonia monooxygenase gene (amoA) in nitrifying activated sludge. Given the increasing interest in and potential importance of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA), we investigated the capabilities of an AOA pure culture, Nitrososphaera gargensis, to biotransform ten micropollutants belonging to three structurally similar groups (i.e., phenylureas, tertiary amides, and tertiary amines). N. gargensis was able to biotransform two of the tertiary amines, mianserin (MIA) and ranitidine (RAN), exhibiting similar compound specificity as two ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) strains that were tested for comparison. The same MIA and RAN biotransformation reactions were carried out by both the AOA and AOB strains. The major transformation product (TP) of MIA, α-oxo MIA was likely formed via a two-step oxidation reaction. The first hydroxylation step is typically catalyzed by monooxygenases. Three RAN TP candidates were identified from nontarget analysis. Their tentative structures and possible biotransformation pathways were proposed. The biotransformation of MIA and RAN only occurred when ammonia oxidation was active, suggesting cometabolic transformations. Consistently, a comparative proteomic analysis revealed no significant differential expression of any protein-encoding gene in N. gargensis grown on ammonium with MIA or RAN compared with standard cultivation on ammonium only. Taken together, this study provides first important insights regarding the roles played by AOA in micropollutant biotransformation.
authors.affiliation: Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology , 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.|Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States.
authors.forename: Yujie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Men
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Division of Microbial Ecology, Research Network "Chemistry meets Microbiology", University of Vienna , Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Ping
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University , Ithaca, New York 14853, United States.
authors.forename: Damian E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Helbling
authors.affiliation: Department of Proteomics, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ , 04318 Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Nico
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jehmlich
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Division of Microbial Ecology, Research Network "Chemistry meets Microbiology", University of Vienna , Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Herbold
authors.affiliation: Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology , 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Rebekka
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gulde
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University , Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States.
authors.forename: Annalisa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Onnis-Hayden
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northeastern University , Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States.
authors.forename: April Z
authors.initials: AZ
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.affiliation: Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology , 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, Division of Microbial Ecology, Research Network "Chemistry meets Microbiology", University of Vienna , Althanstrasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wagner
authors.affiliation: Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology , 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.|Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich , 8092 Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Kathrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fenner
mesh_terms: D000641:Ammonia / Q000378:metabolism*; D001105:Archaea / Q000378:metabolism*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000378:metabolism; D001711:Biotransformation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000378:metabolism; D010802:Phylogeny; D040901:Proteomics; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations; D000641:Ammonia