Pesticide degradation capacity of a novel strain belonging to Serratia sarumanii (GBS19) with its genomic profile

Abstract

The use of pesticides in agricultural pest control and the potential for biological degradation of these chemicals are significant factors in environmental conservation. Sustainable pest control strategies should prioritize the preservation of non-target organisms and the maintenance of soil ecosystem dynamics. Initiation from this point, this study aimed to identify microorganisms capable of pesticide biodegradation commonly used in our regions intensive agricultural fields. The microorganism with the broadest degradation spectrum was identified in vitro studies, and whole-genome sequence analyses indicated that some genomic regions were able to degrade pesticides, which was also confirmed with LC-MS analysis. Detailed genomic analyses linked to allele sequence definitions for ribosomal MLST have classified this strain as Serratia sarumanii under the Serratia genus. Moreover, our findings showed that the introduction of this microorganism can stimulate the degradation of certain pesticides in the environment while, interestingly, simultaneously enhancing the potency of low concentrations of some other pesticides through a synergistic effect. To validate of GBS19 biodegradation capacity, additional studies carried out on 25 pesticide active chemicals using LC-MS chromatographic analysis revealed that the Serratia sarumanii GBS19 strain is able to biodegrade some active compounds of various pesticides (fludioxonil, fenhexamid, pyrimethanil, and spirodiclofen) by up to 54%, 52%, 46%, and 23%, respectively. These results highlight the degrative properties of our prominent original strain as a gene pool which can be put into practice by transforming into competent strain using recombinant DNA technology.