Despite the adverse effects of emerging ZnO nanoparticles (nano-ZnO) on wastewater biological nitrogen removal (BNR) systems being widely documented, strategies for mitigating nanoparticle (NP) toxicity impacts on nitrogen removal have not been adequately addressed. Herein, N-acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL)-based quorum sensing (QS) was investigated for its effects against nano-ZnO toxicity to a model nitrifier, Nitrosomonas europaea. The results indicated that AHL-attenuated nano-ZnO toxicity, which was inversely correlated with the increasing dosage of AHL from 0.01 to 1 µM. At 0.01 µM, AHL notably enhanced the tolerance of N. europaea cells to nano-ZnO stress, and the inhibited cell proliferation, membrane integrity, ammonia oxidation rate, ammonia monooxygenase activity and amoA gene expression significantly increased by 18.2 ± 2.1, 2.4 ± 0.9, 58.7 ± 7.1, 32.3 ± 1.7, and 7.3 ± 5.9%, respectively, after 6 h of incubation. However, increasing the AHL dosage compromised the QS-mediated effects and even aggravated the NPs' toxicity effects. Moreover, AHLs, at all tested concentrations, significantly increased superoxide dismutase activity, indicating the potential of QS regulations to enhance cellular anti-oxidative stress capacities when facing NP invasion. These results provide novel insights into the development of QS regulation strategies to reduce the impact of nanotoxicity on BNR systems.
Keywords: Nitrosomonas europaea; ZnO nanoparticle; acyl-homoserine lactone; quorum sensing; stress tolerance.