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Naproxen Is Transformed Via Acetogenesis and Syntrophic Acetate Oxidation by a Methanogenic Wastewater Consortium

  • Environmental Microbiology
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Abstract

Over-the-counter pharmaceutical compounds can serve as microbial substrates in wastewater treatment processes as well as in the environment. The metabolic pathways and intermediates produced during their degradation, however, are poorly understood. In this study, we investigate an anaerobic wastewater community that metabolizes naproxen via demethylation. Enriched cultures, established from anaerobic digester inocula receiving naproxen as the sole carbon source, transformed naproxen to 6-O-desmethylnaproxen (DMN) within 22 days. Continual enrichment and culture transfer resulted in consistent demethylation of naproxen with no loss of DMN observed. Methane was generated at 0.83 mmol per 1 mmol transformed naproxen. In addition to naproxen, the consortium readily demethylated syringic acid and vanillic acid. DNA analysis revealed a community of acetogenic bacteria and syntrophic acetate oxidizing archaea. Combined with the biotransformation data, this suggests the enriched consortium performs aromatic O-demethylation through a syntrophic relationship between specific acetogens, acetate oxidizers, and methanogens. The proposed model of carbon transfer through the anaerobic food web highlights the significance of linked community interactions in the anaerobic transformation of aromatic O-methyl compounds such as naproxen.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge Tom Villani and the labs of Dr. James Simon and Dr. Alan Goldman for the analysis support. The nucleotide sequence data reported are available in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive under the BioSample accession numbers SAMN07237492 and SAMN07237493.

Funding

This project was supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture Hatch Multistate project 1007899 through the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, Hatch Multistate NJ07212. Sarah Wolfson was supported by a US National Science Foundation Fuels IGERT from Rutgers University (NSF DGE 0903675).

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Author notes

  1. Sarah J. Wolfson

    Present address: Department of Systems and Computational Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA

  2. Julia K. Campbell

    Present address: Township of Middletown Sewerage Authority, Belford, NJ, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

    Sarah J. Wolfson, Abigail W. Porter, Julia K. Campbell & Lily Y. Young

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  1. Sarah J. Wolfson
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  2. Abigail W. Porter
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Correspondence to Lily Y. Young.

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Wolfson, S.J., Porter, A.W., Campbell, J.K. et al. Naproxen Is Transformed Via Acetogenesis and Syntrophic Acetate Oxidation by a Methanogenic Wastewater Consortium. Microb Ecol 76, 362–371 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-017-1136-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-017-1136-2

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