Mechanism of allethrin biodegradation by a newly isolated Sphingomonas trueperi strain CW3 from wastewater sludge

[Display omitted] •A novel Sphingomonas trueperi CW3 capable of degrading allethrin was isolated.•The strain CW3 could efficiently degrade a wide range of synthetic pyrethroids.•The bacterium harbors the metabolic pathway for complete degradation of allethrin.•Enhanced removal of allethrin in different contaminated environments was observed. The main aim of this study was to investigate and characterize the bacterial strain that has the potential to degrade allethrin. The isolated strain, Sphingomonas trueperi CW3, degraded allethrin (50 mg L−1) in batch experiments within seven days. The Box-Behnken design optimized allethrin degradation and had a confirmation of 93% degradation at pH 7.0, at a temperature of 30 °C and an inocula concentration of 100 mg L−1. The results from gas chromatography and mass spectrometry analysis confirmed the existence of nine metabolites from the degradation of allethrin with strain CW3. The cleavage of the ester bond, followed by the degradation of the five-carbon rings, was allethrin’s primary degradation pathway. The strain CW3 also degraded other widely applied synthetic pyrethroids such as cyphenothrin, bifenthrin, permethrin, tetramethrin, β-cypermethrin and chlorempenthrin. Furthermore, in experiments performed with sterilized soil, strain CW3 based bioaugmentation effectively removed allethrin at a significantly reduced half-life.