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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2019, Vol. 18 Issue (9): 1953-1960    DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(18)62121-5
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Degradation mechanisms of oxytetracycline in the environment
LI Zhao-jun1*, QI Wei-ning1, 2*, FENG Yao1, LIU Yuan-wang1, Ebrahim Shehata1, LONG Jian   
1 Key Laboratory of Plant Nutrition and Fertilizer, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs/China-New Zealand Joint Laboratory for Soil Molecular Ecology, Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, P.R.China
2 Guizhou Key Laboratory of Mountain Environment, Guizhou Normal University, Guiyang 550001, P.R.China
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Abstract  
Over the past few decades, the usage of oxytetracycline (OTC), a kind of antibiotic, has increased with the development of aquaculture and livestock breeding.  However, about 30–90% of the applied antibiotics are excreted as the parent compounds into the environment, especially with the application of animal manure to agricultural fields.  This large influx of antibiotics may lead to the destruction of the natural microbial ecological community and pose great threats to human beings through the food chain.  Therefore, the fate and toxicity of OTC in the environment are issues of great concern.  Degradation of OTC, including the non-biodegradation and biodegradation, and the biological toxicity of its degradation products or metabolites, are reviewed in this paper.  The non-biodegradation pathways include hydroxylation, quinonization, demethylation, decarbonylation, dehydration and secondary alcohol oxidation.  Light (particularly UV light), pH and oxidizing substances play important roles in non-biodegradation.  Biodegradation products include 4-epi-OTC (EOTC), 2-acetyl-2-decarboxy-amido-OTC (ADOTC), α-apo-OTC and β-apo-OTC.  EOTC is an epimer and identied except for the configuration of the C4 dimethylamino group of OTC.  Temperature and pH are the main factors affecting biodegradation pathways of OTC.  In addition, this review discusses concerns over the biological toxicity of OTC degradation products.
Keywords:    
Received: 26 April 2018   Accepted:
Fund: This work was jointly supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFD0500206), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31772395), and the Fundamental Research Funds for Central Non-profit Scientific Institution of Institute of Agricultural Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (IARRP-2017-13).
Corresponding Authors:  Correspondence LI Zhao-jun, Tel: +86-10-82108657, E-mail: lizhaojun@caas.cn   
About author:  * These authors contributed equally to this study.

Cite this article: 

LI Zhao-jun, QI Wei-ning, FENG Yao, LIU Yuan-wang, Ebrahim Shehata, LONG Jian . 2019. Degradation mechanisms of oxytetracycline in the environment. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 18(9): 1953-1960.

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