Soil microbial community succession and interactions during combined plant/white-rot fungus remediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Xiaodong Ma; Xia Li; Junxiang Liu; Yunhe Cheng; Junzhu Zou; Feifei Zhai; Zhenyuan Sun; Lei Han

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142224

Soil microbial community succession and interactions during combined plant/white-rot fungus remediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Jan 15:752:142224. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142224. Epub 2020 Sep 9.

Authors

Xiaodong Ma¹, Xia Li², Junxiang Liu¹, Yunhe Cheng³, Junzhu Zou¹, Feifei Zhai⁴, Zhenyuan Sun¹, Lei Han⁵

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Tree Breeding and Cultivation of the State Forestry Administration, Chinese Academy of Forestry Research Institute of Forestry, Xiangshan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100091, China.
² Key Laboratory of Tree Breeding and Cultivation of the State Forestry Administration, Chinese Academy of Forestry Research Institute of Forestry, Xiangshan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100091, China; College of Agriculture and Bioengineering, Heze University, University Road, Mudan District, Heze 274000, Shandong, China.
³ Beijing Academy of Forestry and Pomology Sciences, Shuguanghuayuanzhong Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100097, China.
⁴ School of Architectural and Artistic Design, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiefang Middle Road, Jiaozuo, Henan 454000, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Tree Breeding and Cultivation of the State Forestry Administration, Chinese Academy of Forestry Research Institute of Forestry, Xiangshan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100091, China. Electronic address: hdd@caf.ac.cn.

PMID: 33207520
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142224

Abstract

Despite combined plant/white-rot fungus remediation being effective for remediating polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-contaminated soil, the complex organismal interactions and their effects on soil PAH degradation remain unclear. Here, we used quantitative PCR, analysis of soil enzyme activities, and sequencing of representative genes to characterize the ecological dynamics of natural attenuation, mycoremediation (MR, using Crucibulum laeve), phytoremediation (PR, using Salix viminalis), and plant-microbial remediation (PMR, using both species) for PAHs in soil for 60 days. On day 60, PMR achieved the highest removal efficiency of all three representative PAHs (65.5%, 47.5%, and 62.4% for phenanthrene, pyrene, and benzo(a)pyrene, respectively) when compared with the other treatments. MR significantly increased the relative abundance of Rhizobium and Bacillus but antagonized the other putative indigenous PAH-degrading bacteria, which were enriched by PR. PR significantly reduced soil nutrients, such as NO₃^- and NH₄⁺, and available potassium (AK), thereby changing the microbial community composition as reflected by redundancy analysis, significantly reducing the soil bacterial biomass relative to that in other treatments. These disadvantages hampered phenanthrene and pyrene removal. MR provided additional nutrients, which counteracted the nutrient consumption associated with PR, thereby maintaining the microbial community diversity and bacterial biomass of PMR at a level achieved in the NA treatment. Combination remediation therefore overcame the disadvantages of using PR alone. These results indicated that inoculation with the combination of S. viminalis and C. laeve synergistically stimulated the growth of indigenous PAH-degrading microorganisms and maintained bacterial biomass, thus accelerating the dissipation of soil PAHs.

Keywords: Combination remediation; Crucibulum laeve; Interaction; Microbial community; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons-contaminated soil; Salix viminalis.

MeSH terms

Biodegradation, Environmental
Microbiota*
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons* / analysis
Soil
Soil Microbiology
Soil Pollutants* / analysis

Substances

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
Soil
Soil Pollutants