Isolation of flurbiprofen-degrading bacteria and evaluating its degradation characteristics

We isolated a flurbiprofen-degrading strain LY.1 from the water samples of the Xunsi River in Wuhan City, China. The 16S rDNA sequence alignment showed that the LY.1 strain was Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA). Subsequently, we studied the growth and flurbiprofen-degradation characteristics of LY.1. The results showed that the LY.1 strain grew in the medium containing flurbiprofen as the sole carbon source. Its growth was accompanied by the accumulation of yellow products of aromatic ring-opening reaction. At 400 mg/L initial flurbiprofen concentration, 30 °C, and pH 7, the flurbiprofen degradation rate of the strain reached 100% at 96 h. GC–MS​ assay results showed that the strain LY.1-mediated flurbiprofen degradation end-product was 3-fluoro-4-(1-ethylcarboxy) phenylpropionic acid (FCB). The LY.1 strain growing conditions were 25–40 °C, pH 6–8, and substrate concentration 100–800 mg/L. Therefore, our findings can provide references for the environmental fate of flurbiprofen and its pollution control.