A complete route for biodegradation of potentially carcinogenic cyanotoxin microcystin-LR in a novel indigenous bacterium

Microcystin-leucine-arginine (MC-LR), a cyclic potentially carcinogenic hepatotoxin, occurs frequently in aquatic habitats worldwide and seriously threatens ecosystem and public health. Limited effectiveness of physicochemical treatments to remove MC-LR from drinking water has led to a search for alternative cost-effective and environment friendly biodegradation strategies. Obtaining MC-degrading bacteria and understanding their MC-degrading mechanisms are outstanding challenges. Here, a novel indigenous bacterium named Sphingopyxis sp. YF1 with a high efficient capacity for MC-degradation was successfully isolated from eutrophic Lake Taihu. Through integrating mass spectrometer and multi-omics analyses accompanied by functional verification of certain genes and proteins, a complete MC-degradation pathway was firstly identified, in which MC-LR was sequentially degraded into linearized MC-LR, tetrapeptide, Adda, phenylacetic acid, and finally potential product CO2. Some specific proteins such as microcystinase, linearized-microcystinase, tetrapeptidease and PAAase responsible for this pathway were identified. This study pioneeringly demonstrated that MC-LR can be completely degraded through natural remediation processes and revealed a significant potential for MC-LR biodegradation in both natural environment and engineered systems.