New insights into exogenous N-acyl-homoserine lactone manipulation in biological nitrogen removal system against ZnO nanoparticle shock

Huan Gao; Runyu Zhao; Zeyu Wu; Jinyu Ye; Lijie Duan; Ran Yu

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128567

New insights into exogenous N-acyl-homoserine lactone manipulation in biological nitrogen removal system against ZnO nanoparticle shock

Bioresour Technol. 2023 Feb:370:128567. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128567. Epub 2022 Dec 31.

Authors

Huan Gao¹, Runyu Zhao¹, Zeyu Wu¹, Jinyu Ye², Lijie Duan³, Ran Yu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, School of Energy and Environment, Wuxi Engineering Research Center of Taihu Lake Water Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210096, China; Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering, Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210009, China.
² School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University of Science and Technology, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310023, China.
³ Guangdong Institute of Socialism, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510400, China.
⁴ Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, School of Energy and Environment, Wuxi Engineering Research Center of Taihu Lake Water Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210096, China; Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering, Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210009, China. Electronic address: yuran@seu.edu.cn.

PMID: 36596365
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.128567

Abstract

The effects and mechanisms of three N-acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs) (C₄-HSL, C₆-HSL, and C₁₀-HSL) on responses of biological nitrogen removal (BNR) systems to zinc oxide nanoparticle (NP) shock were investigated. All three AHLs improved the NP-impaired ammonia oxidation rates by up to 50.0 % but inhibited the denitrification process via regulating nitrogen metabolism-related enzyme activities. C₄-HSL accelerated the catalase activity by 13.2 %, while C₆-HSL and C₁₀-HSL promoted the superoxide dismutase activity by 26.6 % and 18.4 %, respectively, to reduce reactive oxygen species levels. Besides, the enhancements of tryptophan protein and humic acid levels in tightly-bound extracellular polymeric substance by AHLs were vital for NP toxicity attenuation. The metabonomic analysis demonstrated that all three AHLs up-regulated the levels of lipid- and antioxidation-related metabolites to advance the system's resistance to NP shock. The "dual character" of AHLs emphasized the concernment of legitimately employing AHLs to alleviate NP stress for BNR systems.

Keywords: Biological nitrogen removal; Metabolome; Quorum sensing; Shock resistance; ZnO nanoparticle.

MeSH terms

4-Butyrolactone
Acyl-Butyrolactones*
Denitrification
Extracellular Polymeric Substance Matrix
Quorum Sensing
Zinc Oxide* / pharmacology

Substances

Acyl-Butyrolactones
N-butyrylhomoserine lactone
Zinc Oxide
4-Butyrolactone