Microbial degradation of Paclitaxel using Citrobacter amalonaticus Rashtia isolated from pharmaceutical wastewater: kinetic and thermodynamic study.

Paclitaxel is a highly toxic anticancer agent which is used in a wide range against ovarian, breast, lung, and prostate cancers. Paclitaxel is manufactured recently in the north of Iran which may lead to the introduction of the drug into the environment via pharmaceutical wastewater. To our knowledge, Paclitaxel degradation is currently performed using physicochemical methods and biological degradation of Paclitaxel has not been reported. In this study, a Paclitaxel degrading bacterium was isolated from pharmaceutical wastewater for the first time. The bacterium was identified using biochemical and molecular assays and its Paclitaxel degradation potential was evaluated using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). In addition, kinetic and thermodynamic study of Paclitaxel degradation at different experimental conditions was performed. A Citrobacter species named as C. amalonaticus Rashtia able to degrade and utilize Paclitaxel as the sole carbon source was isolated. The isolated strain tolerated high level concentration of Paclitaxel (0.4 mg/mL) in liquid culture media and was able to degrade spillage-level concentrations of the drug (0.01-0.1 mg/mL) with 87-93 % efficacy under aerobic condition. Kinetic and thermodynamic study at different pHs (4.0, 7.0 and 10.0) and temperatures (285, 295 and 310 K) revealed that Paclitaxel degradation is a non-spontaneous process and the highest rate constant was observed in the basic condition and at the highest temperature. The ΔG values at 285, 295 and 310 K were determined 103.3, 105.9 and 109.9 kJ/mol, respectively. In addition, The ΔH and activation energy (Ea) of the process were determined +28.7 kJ/mol and +30.87 kJ/mol, respectively.