Different Enzymatic Strategy to Degrade Carbamazepine by Rhodococcus zopfii and Leifsonia shinshuensis

This research reports on the efficiency of Rhodococcus zopfii and Leifsonia shinshuensis to degrade approximately 99.98 ± 0.20% carbamazepine (CBZ) within 5 days. The degradation of CBZ was strongly correlated (R² ≥ 0.9) to bacterial growth in L. shinshuensis, but only moderate (R² ≈ 0.6) in R. zopfii. Both oxygen oxidoreductase and aldehyde oxidase concentrations were positively and strongly correlated (R² ≈ 0.9) to the degradation rate of CBZ in both cultures. However, when it comes to bacterial growth (CFU mL⁻¹/h), only the culture of L. shinshuensis showed a strong positive correlation (R² ≈ 0.9) to both enzyme concentrations, whereas the culture of R. zopfii only shows a moderate correlation (R² ≈ 0.7). The degradation of CBZ by R. zopfii did not directly translate into higher bacterial growth. This demonstrated the possibility of different CBZ degradation strategies was being adopted by these two different bacteria. Hence, this piece of information is important to elucidate the mechanisms of carbamazepine degradation and sustainable treatment.