Over the counter drugs have become one of the most reliable and fastest solutions to relieve common muscle pain and inflammations. For example, drugs such as ibuprofen (IBU) and paracetamol (PA) are highly used within the pharmacological industry, hospitals and the common household. However, its overuse has placed it as an environmental threat to aquatic environments. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has reported IBU and PA concentrations within 0.3-210 ng/L and 1-1,350 ng/L respectively. Furthermore, the presence of these compounds has an adverse effect on the aquatic biodiversity evidenced by cases of oxidative stress damage. Therefore, as a means of removing these contaminants, this research aims to search for microbial bio-prospects capable of metabolizing the active compound of IBU or PA using culture independent techniques. Guajataca reservoir and Centralia metagenomic libraries were screened by growing metagenomic clones in M9 medium with IBU or PA as its sole Carbon source. The plates were incubated at 37°C and potential bio-prospect colonies were scored daily for 5 days.
Results/Conclusions
A total of twenty-one potential analgesics metabolizing bio-prospects (PAMB) were isolated from the Guajataca and Centralia library. The growth of seven PAMB was confirmed using optical density in M9 liquid media supplemented with IBU and PA. From the PAMB screened, four (2 from each metagenomic library) showed considerable growth under the conditions tested. Molecular analysis confirmed the presence of a fosmid, and experiments are in progress to identify the metagenomic fragment present. Considering that IBU and PA are currently emerging contaminants, these PAMB represent new potential sources to explore the bioremediation of these contaminants from affected environments.