Biochemical degradation could be expensive. Here are some clues to the enzymatic action involved. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/biotin D.M. Mock, in Encyclopedia of Human Nutrition (Second Edition), 2005

Metabolism and Urinary Excretion of Biotin and Metabolites Biotin is a bicyclic compound (Figure 1). One of the rings contains an ureido group (📷N📷CO📷N📷). The tetrahydrothiophene ring contains sulfur and has a valeric acid side chain. A significant proportion of biotin undergoes catabolism before excretion (Figure 1). Two principal pathways of biotin catabolism have been identified in mammals. In the first pathway, the valeric acid side chain of biotin is degraded by β-oxidation. β-Oxidation of biotin leads to the formation of bisnorbiotin, tetranorbiotin, and related intermediates that are known to result from β-oxidation of fatty acids. The cellular site of this β-oxidation of biotin is uncertain. Spontaneous (nonenzymatic) decarboxylation of the unstable β-keto acids (β-keto-biotin and β-keto-bisnorbiotin) leads to formation of bisnorbiotin methylketone and tetranorbiotin methylketone; these catabolites appear in urine. https://www.sciencedirect.com/user/login?returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedirect.com%2Ftopics%2Fbiochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology%2Fbiotin

If you want to degrade it indiscriminately, concentrated nitric acid HNO3 should do it.

Thank you for your answer. I looked at publications about biotin catabolism as well and what I forgot to specifiy is that i was looking for a way to cleave the ureido ring of the biotin so streptavidin couldn't bind it afterwards. I only found a few references to this in ancient papers from 1960's. https://www-jbc-org.insb.bib.cnrs.fr/article/S0021-9258(18)99705-X/fulltext

Do you know if there are modern references to the bacterium discovered back then.

I need a very specific degradation of the biotin for my experiment.

Would any of these earlier answers offer insights?

https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_can_I_break_biotin-streptavidin_bond_and_separate_them

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Can_anyone_suggest_ways_of_breaking_the_streptavidin-biotin_bond

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15690449/