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Biological toxicity of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) against the luxCDABE-based bioluminescent bioreporter Escherichia coli 652T7

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Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the biological toxicity of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) using the constitutively bioluminescent luxCDABE-based bioreporter Escherichia coli 652T7. The effects of CNCs on E. c oli 652T7 biotoxicity were investigated at different CNC concentrations, reaction times, and IC50 values. CNC toxicity was also compared with and without ultrasonic dispersion to establish dispersibility effects. The results demonstrated that CNCs were not significantly toxic at concentrations at or below 250 mg/L. At concentrations higher than 300 mg/L, toxicity increased linearly as CNC concentrations increased up to 2000 mg/L. IC50 calculations demonstrated an increase in cytotoxicity as CNC exposure times increased, and elevated dispersibility of the CNCs were shown to increase cytotoxicity effects. These results suggest that CNCs can impact microbial populations if elevated concentration thresholds are met.

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Acknowledgments

This research was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 31171977), the Doctoral Fund of Ministry of Education (Project No. 20112103110003), and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB14020204). The University of Tennessee’s Center for Environmental Biotechnology also provided financial support for the experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Land and Environment, Shenyang Agriculture University, Shenyang, 110866, China

    Liyu Du, Chenghua Liang & Jingkuan Wang

  2. The Center for Environmental Biotechnology, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA

    Liyu Du, Kelly Arnholt, Steven Ripp, Gary Sayler & Jie Zhuang

  3. The Center for Renewable Carbon, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, 37996, USA

    Siqun Wang

  4. Key Laboratory of Pollution Ecology and Environmental Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China

    Jie Zhuang

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  1. Liyu Du
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  2. Kelly Arnholt
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  3. Steven Ripp
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  4. Gary Sayler
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  5. Siqun Wang
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  6. Chenghua Liang
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  7. Jingkuan Wang
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  8. Jie Zhuang
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Correspondence to Jie Zhuang.

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Du, L., Arnholt, K., Ripp, S. et al. Biological toxicity of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) against the luxCDABE-based bioluminescent bioreporter Escherichia coli 652T7. Ecotoxicology 24, 2049–2053 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-015-1555-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-015-1555-0

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