Fluoroquinolone antibiotics are among the most frequently detected xenobiotics in the environment. Flumequine, a representative of this class, often reaches ecosystems through livestock, where its presence and persistence may harm living organisms. Fungal biotransformation is a promising alternative way to degrade or transform such xenobiotics. Therefore, our research aimed to evaluate the ability of five fungal strains from the IBK Mushroom Culture Collection to biotransform flumequine and to compare their metabolite profiles. Fungal cultures were incubated with flumequine under submerged conditions, and the transformation products were identified by high-performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). The research has shown that all studied strains are capable of transforming flumequine. Biodegradation rates ranged from 87 to 90% within three days. Hydroxyflumequine was identified as the major metabolite for all investigated strains. Additionally, three other flumequine derivatives were determined: Bjerkandera adusta 2144 formed ethyl ester of flumequine; Coprinus comatus 2325 and 1687 produced methyl ester of flumequine; and Irpex lacteus 2437 formed methyl esters of flumequine and hydroxyflumequine. This is the first report on the ability of the humicolous saprotroph Coprinus comatus to transform flumequine. The obtained results highlight species-specific features of the biotransformation process and reveal the prospects of basidiomycetes as promising agents for fluoroquinolone antibiotic biotransformation.

Supplementary Material. Supplementary Material (S1) is available on this website: ukrbotj83-02-120-S1.pdf (128 KB)

Keywords: basidiomycetes, biotransformation, chromatography, fluoroquinolone antibiotic, xenobiotic

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