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Toxicity effects of four typical nanomaterials on the growth of Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Agrobacterium tumefaciens

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Abstract

To offer an insight into the toxicity of nanomaterials (NM) on the growth of bacteria, Escherichia coli (E. coli), Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) and Agrobacterium tumefaciens (A. tumefaciens) were exposed to nano-Au, nano-Ag, nano-Fe and fullerene (C60) in this study. As an effective bactericide, nano-Ag induced high toxicity on these three bacteria; C60 could inhibit their growth; however, B. subtilis and E. coli could recover as exposure time extended. Nano-Au and nano-Fe had hardly any effect on three bacteria. A. tumefaciens showed the lowest resistance and slowest growth rate during exposure. Images obtained by scanning electron microscope (SEM) revealed that nano-Ag could cause damage to the cell structure of three bacteria at 1 μg/mL. Slight damage on E. coli was found when exposed to C60, whereas no obvious physical damage was found after exposure to nano-Au or nano-Fe. It is assumed that surface activities of NM might be responsible for the different toxic effects on these bacteria.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the National Natural Science Foundation of China (20907017, 20890112), and National Key Technology R&D Program of China (No. 2007BAC27B01,2007BAC27B02-1a) for the funding during the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing, 100085, People’s Republic of China

    Chang Wang & Yong Liang

  2. Key Lab of Subtropical Agriculture and Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, People’s Republic of China

    Chang Wang, Ling Wang & Jie Zhang

  3. School of Medicine, Jianghan University, Wuhan, 430056, People’s Republic of China

    Ying Wang & Yong Liang

Authors
  1. Chang Wang
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  2. Ling Wang
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  3. Ying Wang
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  4. Yong Liang
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  5. Jie Zhang
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Correspondence to Yong Liang or Jie Zhang.

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Wang, C., Wang, L., Wang, Y. et al. Toxicity effects of four typical nanomaterials on the growth of Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis and Agrobacterium tumefaciens . Environ Earth Sci 65, 1643–1649 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-011-1139-0

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