When nanoparticle and microbes meet: The effect of multi-walled carbon nanotubes on microbial community and nutrient cycling in hyperaccumulator system

Xunfeng Chen; Juncai Wang; Yimin You; Renyuan Wang; Shaohua Chu; Yaowei Chi; Kashif Hayat; Nan Hui; Xinxin Liu; Dan Zhang; Pei Zhou

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126947

When nanoparticle and microbes meet: The effect of multi-walled carbon nanotubes on microbial community and nutrient cycling in hyperaccumulator system

J Hazard Mater. 2022 Feb 5;423(Pt A):126947. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126947. Epub 2021 Aug 28.

Authors

Xunfeng Chen¹, Juncai Wang², Yimin You³, Renyuan Wang⁴, Shaohua Chu⁵, Yaowei Chi⁶, Kashif Hayat⁷, Nan Hui⁸, Xinxin Liu⁹, Dan Zhang¹⁰, Pei Zhou¹¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240, China; Key Laboratory of Urban Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China. Electronic address: chenxunfeng@sjtu.edu.cn.
² School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240, China; Key Laboratory of Urban Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China. Electronic address: wangjuncai@sjtu.edu.cn.
³ School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240, China; Key Laboratory of Urban Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China. Electronic address: youyimin@sjtu.edu.cn.
⁴ School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240, China; Key Laboratory of Urban Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China. Electronic address: wangry1125@sjtu.edu.cn.
⁵ School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240, China; Key Laboratory of Urban Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China. Electronic address: chushyt@sjtu.edu.cn.com.
⁶ School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240, China; Key Laboratory of Urban Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China. Electronic address: cyw8103@163.com.
⁷ School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240, China; Key Laboratory of Urban Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China. Electronic address: khayat97@sjtu.edu.cn.
⁸ School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240, China; Key Laboratory of Urban Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China. Electronic address: nan.hui@sjtu.edu.cn.
⁹ Instrumental Analysis Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240, China. Electronic address: xinxin.liu@sjtu.edu.cn.
¹⁰ School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240, China; Key Laboratory of Urban Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China. Electronic address: zhdsjtu@sjtu.edu.cn.
¹¹ School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240, China; Key Laboratory of Urban Agriculture, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Areas, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China. Electronic address: peizhousjtu@163.com.

PMID: 34481400
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126947

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes can potentially stimulate phytoremediation of heavy metal contaminated soil by promoting plant biomass and root growth. Yet, the regulating mechanism of carbon nanotubes on the rhizosphere microenvironment and their potential ecological risks remain poorly characterized. The purpose of this study was to systematically evaluate the effects of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MCNT) on the diversity and structure of rhizosphere soil bacterial and fungal communities, as well as soil enzyme activities and nutrients, in Solanum nigrum L. (S. nigrum)-soil system. Here, S. nigrum were cultivated in heavy metal(loid)s contaminated soils applied with MCNT (100, 500, and 1000 mg kg^-1 by concentration, none MCNT addition as control) for 60 days. Our results demonstrated more significant urease, sucrase, and acid phosphatase activities in MCNT than in control soils, which benefit to promoting plant growth. Also, there were significant reductions in available nitrogen and available potassium contents with the treatment of MCNT, while the organic carbon and available phosphorus were not affected by MCNT application. Notably, the alpha diversity of bacterial and fungal communities in the MCNT treatments did not significantly vary relative to control. However, the soil microbial taxonomic compositions were changed under the application of MCNT. Compared to the control, MCNT application increased the relative abundances of the Micrococcaceae family, Solirubrobacteraceae family, and Conexibacter genus, which were positively correlated with plant growth. In addition, the non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis revealed that the community structure of bacterial and fungal communities did not significantly change among all the treatments, and bacterial community structure was significantly correlated with soil organic carbon. At the same time, sucrase activity had the highest relation to fungal community structure. This study highlighted soil microbes have strong resistance and adaptation ability to carbon nanotubes with existence of plants, and revealed linkage between the rhizosphere microenvironment and plant growth, which well improved our understanding of carbon nanotubes in heavy metal phytoremediation.

Keywords: Carbon nanotubes; Microbial community; Phytoremediation; Soil enzyme activities; Soil nutrients.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Microbiota*
Nanoparticles*
Nanotubes, Carbon*
Nutrients
Rhizosphere
Soil
Soil Microbiology
Soil Pollutants* / analysis

Substances

Nanotubes, Carbon
Soil
Soil Pollutants