Molecular ecological network-guided consortium assembly reveals stage-dependent metabolic cooperation for enhanced cephalexin removal.

A dual-strain microbial consortium achieved 91.12% cephalexin removal, demonstrating effective stage-dependent cooperation for antibiotic wastewater treatment.

• Why it matters: Addressing the environmental persistence and resistance risks of cephalexin is crucial for sustainable wastewater management, as single strains often face toxicity and intermediate accumulation issues.
• What they did: Researchers constructed a synthetic consortium from Glutamicibacter sp. S2 and Herbaspirillum sp. S8 based on molecular ecological network analysis, optimizing the ratio to enhance degradation performance.
• The result: The consortium's combined metabolic activities enabled efficient antibiotic removal, energy supply, and stress response pathways, providing insights for designing targeted microbial solutions for antibiotic pollution.