Sulfamethoxazole biodegradation and impacts on soil microbial communities in a Bolivian arid high altitude catchment

The processes controlling antibiotics fate in ecosystems are poorly understood, yet their presence can inhibit bacterial growth and induce the development of bacterial resistance. Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) is one of the most frequently detected sulfonamides in natural environments due to its low metabolism and molecular properties. This work presents pioneering results on SMX biodegradation and impact in high altitude soils (Bolivian Altiplano), allowing a better understanding of the persistence, spread and impact of this antibiotic at the global watershed scale. Our results showed significant dissipation of SMX in relation to its adsorption, hydrolysis and biotransformation. However, biodegradation appears to be lower in these mountain soils than in lowland soils as widely described in the literature. The half-life of SMX ranges from 12 to 346 days in non-sterile soils. In one soil, no biotic degradation was observed, indicating a likely high persistence. Biodegradation was related to OC content and to proximity to urban activities. Regarding the study of the impacts of SMX, the DGGE results were less sensitive than the sequencing. In general, SMX strongly changes the structure and composition of the studied soils at high altitudes, which is comparable to the observations of other authors in lowland soils. The phylum Actinobacter showed high sensitivity to SMX. In contrast, the abundance of ɣ-proteobacteria remained almost unchanged. Soil contamination with SMX did not lead to the development of the studied resistance genes (sul1 and sul2) in soils where they were absent at the beginning of the experiment. Thus, the presence of SMX resistance genes seems to be related to irrigation with wastewater carrying the studied resistance genes.