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Effects of PVP-coated silver nanoparticles on enzyme activity, bacterial and archaeal community structure and function in a yellow-brown loam soil

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Abstract

The undesirable effects of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on soil environment have caused much concern. The previous studies, however, focused on sandy soil, with little known on others. In present study, the effects of polyvinylpyrrolidone-coated AgNPs (0, 1, 10, and 100 mg kg− 1 soil) on enzyme activities (urease and dehydrogenase), ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA), bacterial and archaeal communities, and microbial function profile in a yellow-brown loam soil were investigated. The significant dose-response inhibitions of AgNPs on enzyme activities were observed, with dehydrogenase more susceptible to AgNPs. Both of bacterial and archaeal amoA genes were reduced by AgNPs above 10 mg kg− 1, with AOB more susceptible to AgNPs than AOA. AgNPs at 100 mg kg− 1 caused reductions on the dominant Nitrosospira and Nitrosomonas, and even disappearance on Nitrosovibrio, while increase on Nitrososphaera significantly. AgNPs also changed bacterial and archaeal community structure. Exposure to AgNPs at 100 mg kg− 1 caused significant increases by 186.79% and 44.89% for Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria, while decreases by 47.82%, 44.09%, 43.67%, and 80.44% for Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Planctomycetes, and Verrucomicrobia, respectively. Moreover, three dominant archaeal phyla (Thaumarchaeota, Euryarchaeota, and Parvarchaeota) were also reduced in the presence of AgNPs, especially Thaumarchaeota with the significant reduction of 13.71%. PICRUSt prediction revealed that AgNPs indeed had the potential to change soil microbial community’s functional contributions. It must be cautious on the interference of AgNPs to soil ecological functions in the future.

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Funding

This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51479034 and No.51650410657), Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No.2242019 K40064), and Postgraduate Research & Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (No. KYCX19_0096).

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  1. Department of Municipal Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China

    Chunni Yan, Juan Huang, Chong Cao, Runqing Li, Yixuan Ma & Yaoyao Wang

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  1. Chunni Yan
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  2. Juan Huang
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Yan, C., Huang, J., Cao, C. et al. Effects of PVP-coated silver nanoparticles on enzyme activity, bacterial and archaeal community structure and function in a yellow-brown loam soil. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 8058–8070 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-07347-5

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