Work

Subtleties of tetracycline removal during growth of microalgae-fungi consortia: Mechanistic insights from perspectives of extra- and intracellular metabolites

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This study focused on tetracycline (TC) as the target antibiotic and utilized the emerging microbial system microalgae-fungi consortia to treat it. Results indicate that consortia composed of microalgae Chlorella sp. HL and fungi HW12 (Aspergillus caespitosus) (HL-HW12) exhibited the optimum TC removal (93.00 %, residual concentration: 2.73 mg/L) and biomass harvesting efficiency (92.69 %) among the five kinds of constructed microalgae-fungi consortia. Mechanism analysis indicated that outside the cell, microalgae-fungi consortia strengthened TC removal and biomass harvesting by augmenting the contents of proteins, polysaccharides, fulvic acids, and humic acids. While within the cell, microalgae-fungi consortia adjusted the abundance of critical metabolites in the amino acid metabolism, nucleotide metabolism, and other metabolic pathways to cope with the coercion of TC and facilitated its elimination. This study not only provides good TC microbial treatment systems but also comprehensively reveals the TC removal and metabolic response mechanisms by microalgae-fungi consortia.

Source: Bioresource Technology

DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2025.132352

Authors: Zeyuan Wang, Yaqian Yuan, Yan Shi, Yu Hong

Institution: Beijing Forestry University

Language: English

Topic: Pharmaceutical and Antibiotic Environmental Impacts

Subfield: Pollution

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,880

Funders: National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Research and Development Program of China