Isolation and characterization of a bacterial strain that efficiently degrades sex steroid hormones

Abstract

A bacterial strain, ZY3, growing on sex steroid hormones as the sole source of carbon and energy was isolated from the sewage treatment plant of a prophylactic steroids factory. ZY3 degrades the 3-methoxy-17β-hydroxy-1,3,5(10),8(9)-δ-4-estren (MHE). This strain was preliminarily identified as Raoultella sp. ZY3 according to its morphology and its 16S rRNA gene sequence. During the experimental period (72 h), the optimum temperature, pH and 3-MHE concentration for the degradation of hydride by the strain ZY3 were 35vH, 10 and 10 mg/L, respectively. The degradation rate of the sex steroid hormones increased to 87% and 85% after the addition of maltose and peptone, respectively.