Exploring the potential of applying proteomics for tracking bisphenol A and nonylphenol degradation in activated sludge

► Proteomics applied to a pure culture of Sphingomonas TTNP3 and its proteome analysed. ► The pure strain hydroquinone dioxygenase enzyme used as a proteomic marker. ► Dilutions of the pure strain with activated sludge were done to validate the method. ► Diluted samples protein patterns were compared with the pure strain proteome. ► The protocol detection limit is noteworthy for Sphingomonas TTNP3 in activated sludge.