Isolation, identification and cyfluthrin-degrading potential of a novel Lysinibacillus sphaericus strain, FLQ-11-1

Strain FLQ-11-1, isolated from sewage sludge, was able to degrade cyfluthrin and was identified as Lysinibacillus sphaericus based on its morphology, 16S rRNA sequence and fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) analyses. This strain could use cyfluthrin as its carbon or nitrogen source. Response surface methodology (RSM) analysis showed that the optimum conditions for degradation were at pH 7.0 and 35 °C, using an inoculum amount with an OD600nm value of 1.6. Under these conditions, approximately 80.4% of cyfluthrin (50 mg l−1) was degraded within five days (d) of incubation. Four metabolic compounds were detected during cyfluthrin degradation and identified as methyl-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-2,2-dimethyl-(1-cyclopropane)-carboxylate, 4-fluoro-3-phenoxy-benzoic acid methyl ester, methyl-3-phenoxybenzoate, 3-phenoxy-benzaldehyde by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and tandem mass spectrum (MS/MS) analysis and no cyfluthrin was detected after seven days of incubation. A possible degradation pathway was proposed, and our data showed that cyfluthrin could be efficiently degraded by FLQ-11-1, indicating that this strain could potentially be used to eliminate the contamination of pyrethroid herbicides.