Filling in the Gaps in Metformin Biodegradation: a New Enzyme and a Metabolic Pathway for Guanylurea.

ABSTRACT: The widely prescribed pharmaceutical metformin and its main metabolite, guanylurea, are currently two of the most common contaminants in surface and wastewater. Guanylurea often accumulates and is poorly, if at all, biodegraded in wastewater treatment plants. This study describes Pseudomonas mendocina strain GU, isolated from a municipal wastewater treatment plant, using guanylurea as its sole nitrogen source. The genome was sequenced with 36-fold coverage and mined to identify guanylurea degradation genes. The gene encoding the enzyme initiating guanylurea metabolism was expressed, and the enzyme was purified and characterized. Guanylurea hydrolase, a newly described enzyme, was shown to transform guanylurea to one equivalent (each) of ammonia and guanidine. Guanidine also supports

SUBMITTER: Tassoulas LJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8208167 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature