Advances in Antibiotic Biodegradation: Emerging Strategies and Challenges in Mitigating Environmental Contamination and Resistance

• Published in: Current pollution reports Vol. 11; no. 1; p. 35
• Main Authors: Hidayatullah, Ibnu Maulana, Steven, Soen, Kusmayadi, Adi, Rahmatika, Iftita, Reski, Muhammad, Boopathy, Ramaraj, Alfatan, Muhamad Akmal, Purba, Putri Wilhelmina Gusanti
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 05.06.2025; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Accumulation; Algae; Antibiotic resistance; Antibiotics; Aquatic environment; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Bacteria; Bacterial infections; Biodegradation; Biological wastewater treatment; Contamination; Drug resistance; Earth and Environmental Science; Environment; Environmental factors; Environmental impact; Environmental Law/Policy/Ecojustice; Enzymes; Fungi; Genetic modification; Industrial Pollution Prevention; Medical wastes; Metabolic pathways; Metabolism; Metabolites; Microbial degradation; Microorganisms; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Nanoparticles; Oxidation; Penicillin; Pharmaceutical industry; Pollution; Review; Soil environment; Topical Collection on Biology and Pollution; Waste Water Technology; Wastewater treatment; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Ciprofloxacin; Algal degradation; Microbial degradation; Gene resistance; Tetracycline; Wetlands
• ISSN: 2198-6592; 2198-6592
• DOI: 10.1007/s40726-025-00369-3

Purpose of Review The various disease outbreaks have increased the consumption of antibiotics. Unfortunately, this condition can further increase the accumulation of antibiotics that can pollute the environment and even human health. Biodegradation is one method to reduce or even eliminate the accumulation of antibiotics. This review aims to discuss the sources of antibiotics in the environment, mechanisms of antibiotic biodegradation, factors affecting the biodegradation process, ecological risks, regulatory implications, current strategies that have been implemented, and innovative approaches to reduce antibiotic resistance and environmental contamination. Recent Findings Recent studies have highlighted antibiotic resistance in aquatic and soil environments. This increases the threat of antibiotic-resistant bacterial populations. Biodegradation techniques such as biological wastewater treatment, wetlands, microbial degradation, and algal degradation have been able to show satisfactory performance. In particular, microbial consortia and genetic modification of bacteria, fungi, and microalgae can also provide synergistic metabolic pathways that enhance the efficiency of antibiotic degradation. In addition, biogenic nanoparticles and enzyme-assisted degradation methods, such as laccases, can be advanced innovative approaches for antibiotic biodegradation.  Summary Antibiotic biodegradation has been a pivotal research focus due to increasing environmental pollution and the risk of antibiotic resistance. This topic is promising in decomposing antibiotics into compounds that are more tolerant of the environment. Although there has been progress in antibiotic biodegradation research, further studies should be conducted to overcome challenges such as the complexity of the compounds, antibiotic stability, antibiotic and gene resistance phenomena, and non-optimal environmental factors.