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Microbial Degradation of the Antidepressant Sertraline in Wastewater Sludge

Sertraline, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), is an antidepressant used to treat anxiety and depression. Because of its ability to be an effective SSRI, sertraline is one of the most heavily prescribed drugs in the United States. Thus, its disposal and excretion rates have also been high. Sertraline has been found present in the environment, and furthermore, has been found to produce harmful environmental effects on the aquatic and microbial ecosystems. Microbial degradation and specifically optimizing metabolic pathways of sertraline degradation in bacteria present in wastewater treatment provides one viable hypothesis for the removal of sertraline at a point source before its introduction into the environment. To explore this option, we measured degradation of sertraline over time in microcosms mimicking wastewater treatment and also isolated microbial species from the microcosms that were able to degrade sertraline. We found that sertraline concentrations degraded by a factor of 10 over a period of 28 days. We also were able to isolate two bacterial organisms that were able to use sertraline as a sole carbon source after growth on minimal salt plates with sertraline as the only carbon source. Initial ribosomal gene sequencing shows one isolate in Pseudomonas and one in Serratia, with species level identification still in progress.