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Influence of zinc nanoparticles on survival of worms Eisenia fetida and taxonomic diversity of the gut microflora

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Abstract

The study was conducted to examine the effect of zinc nanoparticles on survival of worms Eisenia fetida and composition of the gut microflora. Analysis of the survival data has shown that the introduction of high doses of the nanoparticles causes death of worms in the second group with 35 % mortality rate and activates protective mechanisms realized as mucous film. DNA from the worm guts was extracted and 16S metagenomic sequencing was fulfilled using MiSeq (Illumina). Regarding the gut microflora of worms in the control group, high diversity of microorganisms (303 OTUs) was noted. Most of those belong to the taxa Firmicutes (51.9 % of the total high-quality united reads), Proteobacteria (24.1 % of the total), and Actinobacteria (13.3 % of the total), which were represented by numerous species of gen. Clostridium (C. saccharobutylicum, C. saccharoperbutylacetonicum, C. beijerinckii), gen. Pseudomonas (P. hydrogenovora, P. aeruginosa, and P. putida), gen. Bacillus (B. megaterium, B. silvestris), gen. Cellulomonas (B. megaterium, B. silvestris), and other numerically smaller genera. Adding of zinc nanoparticles to the substrate decreased the diversity of bacteria (78 OTUs) as well as percentage of bacteria belonging to the taxon Firmicutes (−41.6 %) and increased the proportion of Proteobacteria due to growth in abundance of gen. Verminephrobacter (+46 %) and gen. Ochrobactrum (+19.5 %).

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Acknowledgments

The study is supported by Russian Scientific Foundation, grant 14-36-00023.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Orenburg State University, Pobedy pr. 13, Orenburg, Russia, 460018

    Еlena Sizova, Svyatoslav Lebedev & Anatoliy Skalny

  2. All-Russian Research Institute of Beef Cattle Breeding, 29, 9-Yanvarya Street, Orenburg, Russia, 460000

    Еlena Yausheva, Еlena Sizova, Svyatoslav Lebedev & Sergey Miroshnikov

  3. Institute for Cellular and Intracellular Symbiosis UB RAS, 11, Pionerskaya Street, Orenburg, Russia, 460000

    Andrey Plotnikov, Yuri Khlopko & Sergey Cherkasov

  4. Kazan Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics RAS, 2/31 Lobachevskogo Street, Kazan, Russia, 420111

    Natalia Gogoleva

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  1. Еlena Yausheva
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  2. Еlena Sizova
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Correspondence to Еlena Yausheva.

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Yausheva, Е., Sizova, Е., Lebedev, S. et al. Influence of zinc nanoparticles on survival of worms Eisenia fetida and taxonomic diversity of the gut microflora. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 13245–13254 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6474-y

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