The increasing production and utilization of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and commercial silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have raised concerns about their potential environmental release, with coastal sediments as a substantial sink. To better understanding the effects of these contaminants on denitrification processes in coastal marine sediments, a short-term exposure simulation experiment was conducted. We investigated the effects of single and combined contamination of phenanthrene (Phe) and AgNPs on denitrification processes in a coastal marine sediment. Results showed that all contaminated treatment groups had different degrees of inhibitory effect on denitrification activity, denitrifying enzyme activity, total bacteria count and denitrifying genes. The inhibitory effect sequence of each treatment group was combined treatment > AgNPs treatment > Phe treatment. Moreover, the inhibitory effects of denitrifying genes were much larger than that of total bacteria count, indicating that the pollutants had specific toxic effects on denitrifying bacteria. The sequence of sensitivity of three reduction process to pollutants was N2O > NO2- > NO3-. All contaminated treatment groups could increase NO3-, NO2- and N2O accumulation. Furthermore, according to the linear relationship between functional gene or reductase and denitrification process, we also found that the abundance of denitrifying genes could better predict the influence of Phe and AgNPs on sediment denitrification than the denitrifying bacterial diversity. In addition, at the genus level, the community structure of nirS- and nosZ-type denitrifying bacteria changed dramatically, while changes at the phylum level were comparatively less pronounced. Single and combined contamination of Phe and AgNPs could reduce the dominance of Pseudomonas, which may lead to a potential slow-down in the degradation of Phe and inhibition of denitrification, especially the combined contamination. Overall, our study revealed that combined contamination of Phe and AgNPs could lead to an increase in NO3-, NO2- and N2O accumulation in coastal sediment, which poses a risk of eutrophication in coastal areas, exacerbates the greenhouse effect and has adverse effects on global climate change.
Keywords: coastal marine sediments; denitrification; denitrifying bacterial community; phenanthrene; silver nanoparticles.