Isolation, Screening, and Characterization of Antibiotic-Degrading Bacteria for Penicillin V Potassium (PVK) from Soil on a Pig Farm

(1) Background: Antibiotics are frequently used on farm animals, making animal husbandry a relatively large source of antibiotic pollution of the environment. The present study aims to isolate and acclimatize antibiotic-degrading bacterial strains for penicillin V potassium (PVK) from the contaminated soil of a pig farm. (2) Methods: Bacterial strains were isolated and acclimatized by continuous enrichment of cultures with PVK as the sole carbon source. The antibiotic susceptibility test, thiol mercury salt ultraviolet spectrophotometry (TMSUS), morphological observations, and 16S rDNA sequence analysis were used to identify and characterize the isolated strains. (3) Results: Four bacterial isolates (denoted as LM-1, LM-2, LM-3, LM-4) were obtained, and two of them (LM-1, LM-2) with the highest degradation rates were identified to belong to the same genera as Bacillus. These two isolates were found to be resistant to PVK antibiotic in an antibiotic sensitivity test. The TMSUS indicated that the strains LM-1 and LM-2 had good performance in PVK degradation (68% for LM-1, 66% for LM-2 in 48 h) when the initial PVK concentration was about 100 μg/mL. (4) Conclusions: Two bacterial strains isolated from the soil on a pig farm are effective in degrading PVK and can be potentially used for bioremediation of PVK antibiotic-contaminated soils.