We investigated the behavior of tetracycline degradation and its degradation products upon treatment of isolated yeast that we termed "XPY-10." XPY-10 was isolated from wastewater and identified as Trichosporon mycotoxinivorans by morphological and physiological tests and 5.8S rRNA ITS sequencing. In our experiments, 78.28 ± 0.8% of tetracycline was removed within 7 days with XPY-10. The degradation of tetracycline fitted well with the first-order kinetic model. We also speculated upon the biodegradation products formed during biodegradation. The possible structures of five products were determined using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. During practical application, XPY-10 was shown to have an obvious influence on biodegradation, and 89.61% of tetracycline was removed in feedlot sewage after 7 days of reaction. The chemical oxygen demand removal reached 73.47%.
Keywords: Biodegradation efficiency; LC-MS/MS; Trichosporon mycotoxinivorans XPY-10; biodegradation products; sewage; tetracycline.