Occurrence of endocrine disrupting compounds in aqueous environment and their bacterial degradation: A review

Abstract

Endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs), represented by steroidal estrogens (estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2), estradiol (E3), and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) and xenoestrogens (bisphenol A (BPA) and nonylphenol (NP)), are pollutants with estrogenic activity at very low concentrations and are emerging as a major concern for water quality. They enter into aqueous environment mainly through discharge of wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents. The paper completely reviews recent studies on the occurrence of the six categories of EDCs in different aqueous environment, namely surface water, groundwater, drinking water, and wastewater in WWTPs all over the world. Furthermore, due to the high bioactivity, ubiquitous distribution, potential ecological effects, and persistence of the six categories of EDCs, the work summarizes current knowledge of their bacterial biodegradation, which is considered to be an efficient and promising method of removing EDCs. A wide range of bacteria isolated from various environments and affiliated to all kinds of genera with different degradation powers for EDCs are collected in this review in order to select specific strains adapting well to local conditions for bioremediation of freshwater, seawater, soil, sediment with low or high levels of EDCs. Finally, it emphasizes the need for further research and summarizes the future tasks that emerge from the data gathered here.

KEYWORDS:

• aqueous environment
• bacterial degradation
• endocrine disrupting compounds
• occurrence

Funding

The study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51322901 and No. 51479066), Foundation for Innovative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51421006), and a Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.