PARENT SESSION
WA7b Human and Veterinary Drugs in the Environment.
11:30 AM to 12:30 PM, Wednesday, 09 May 2001
Session Chair: D. Calamari
Room 7

(342) Effects of single antibiotic substances against sewage treatment plant bacterial populations by means of chemotaxonomy.

Unger, Jörg¹, Henninger, Almut¹, Kunz, Sven ¹, Kümmerer, Klaus¹, ¹

ABSTRACT- In test systems important antibiotics were not (fully) biodegradable. Only little is known about the affection of bacteria by antibiotics in sewage treatment plants (STPs). Only 5% of the bacteria in STPs can be identified by classical microbiological methods. Therefore, in situ methods such as chemotaxonomy are necessary to study the affection of bacterial community structures caused by antibiotics. Phospholipids, polyamines and quinones were used as biomarkers for the different groups and subgroups of bacteria. The results showed that the bacterial populations were affected by antibiotics in concentrations lower than the ones used in bacterial inhibition tests.

Key words: antibiotic, chemotaxonomy, bacteria, sewage treatment