High-efficiency biodegradation of pleuromutilin by natural and artificial microbial consortia

A natural microbial consortium (En4) was developed in this study to achieve efficient degradation of pleuromutilin through gradient enrichment and domestication. Community analysis showed that pleuromutilin stress significantly reduced microbial diversity, and core communities with functional specialization were identified across multiple taxa, primarily at the level of Proteobacteria. Notably, bacterial genera that have the potential to degrade pollutants, such as Allorhizobium-Neorhizobium-Pararhizobium-Rhizobium and Cupriavidus were significantly enriched. Additionally, 14 degrading bacteria were isolated from the natural microbial community, and an efficient artificial microbial consortium comprising five strains: Stenotrophomonas pavanii, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, Lysinibacillus sphaericus, Lysinibacillus mangiferihumi, and Pseudomonas songnenensis, was constructed, achieving a degradation rate of 91.97%. The metabolic profile of the artificial microbial consortia during the degradation of pleuromutilin were studied, and potential degradation products and metabolic pathways were proposed. This study clarifies the succession rules of microbial communities under pleuromutilin stress, constructs an efficient and well-defined artificial degradation microbiota, and provides a theoretical basis and strain resources for the microbial remediation of this type of antibiotic in the environment.