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Impact of TiO2 and ZnO nanoparticles at predicted environmentally relevant concentrations on ammonia-oxidizing bacteria cultures under ammonia oxidation

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Abstract

Increased application of titanium dioxide and zinc oxide nanoparticles (nano-TiO2 and nano-ZnO) raises concerns related to their environmental impacts. The effects that such nanoparticles have on environmental processes and the bacteria that carry them out are largely unknown. In this study, ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) enrichment cultures, grown from surface sediments taken from an estuary wetland in Fujian Province, China, were spiked with nano-TiO2 and nano-ZnO (with an average size of 32 and 43 nm, respectively) at predicted environmentally relevant concentrations (≤2 mg L−1) to determine their impacts on ammonia oxidation and the mechanisms involved. Results showed that higher nano-TiO2 concentrations significantly inhibited ammonia oxidation in enrichment cultures. It is noteworthy that the average ammonia oxidation rate was significantly correlated to the Shannon index, the Simpson’s index, and AOB abundance. This suggested that ammonia oxidation inhibition primarily resulted from a reduction of AOB biodiversity and abundance. However, AOB biodiversity and abundance as well as the average ammonia oxidation rate were not inhibited by nano-ZnO at predicted environmentally relevant concentrations. Accordingly, an insignificant correlation was established between biodiversity and abundance of the AOB amoA gene and the average ammonia oxidation rate under nano-ZnO treatments. AOB present in samples belonged to the β-Proteobacteria class with an affinity close to Nitrosospira and Nitrosomonas genera. This suggested that identified impacts of nano-TiO2 and nano-ZnO on ammonia oxidation processes can be extrapolated to some extent to natural aquatic environments. Complex impacts on AOB may result from different nanomaterials present in aquatic environments at various ambient conditions. Further investigation on how and to what extent different nanomaterials influence AOB diversity and abundance and their subsequent ammonia oxidation processes is therefore required.

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Acknowledgments

The authors of this study would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. We thank Brian Doonan (McGill University, Canada) in providing language help in writing this paper and provide useful suggestions. They also gratefully acknowledge the joint research funding from the National Nature Science Foundation of China (41001327 and 41271484), the Nature Science Foundation of Fujian Province (2013J01166), the Fujian Provincial Education Department Foundation (JA11168), and the Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences for Young Scientists in Frontier Research (IUEQN-2012-04).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Urban Environmental and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, 361021, China

    Zhuanxi Luo, Zhaozheng Qiu, Zheng Chen & Changzhou Yan

  2. Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry and Applied Ecochemistry, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Gent, Belgium

    Gijs Du Laing

  3. Chemistry Department, Zhangzhou Normal University, Zhangzhou, 363000, China

    Aifen Liu

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  1. Zhuanxi Luo
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  2. Zhaozheng Qiu
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  3. Zheng Chen
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  4. Gijs Du Laing
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  5. Aifen Liu
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  6. Changzhou Yan
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Correspondence to Zhuanxi Luo or Changzhou Yan.

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Responsible editor: Robert Duran

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Luo, Z., Qiu, Z., Chen, Z. et al. Impact of TiO2 and ZnO nanoparticles at predicted environmentally relevant concentrations on ammonia-oxidizing bacteria cultures under ammonia oxidation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 2891–2899 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3545-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3545-9

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