Carbon nanotubes affect the toxicity of CuO nanoparticles to denitrification in marine sediments by altering cellular internalization of nanoparticle

Authors

Xiong Zheng, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Yinglong Su, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Yinguang Chen, Tongji University, Shanghai, ChinaFollow
Rui Wan, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Mu Li, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Haining Huang, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Xu Li, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

6-2016

Citation

Scientific Reports 6:27748. DOI: 10.1038/srep27748

Comments

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Abstract

Denitrification is an important pathway for nitrate transformation in marine sediments, and this process has been observed to be negatively affected by engineered nanomaterials. However, previous studies only focused on the potential effect of a certain type of nanomaterial on microbial denitrification. Here we show that the toxicity of CuO nanoparticles (NPs) to denitrification in marine sediments is highly affected by the presence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). It was found that the removal efficiency of total NO_X⁻-N (NO₃⁻-N and NO₂⁻-N) in the presence of CuO NPs was only 62.3%, but it increased to 81.1% when CNTs appeared in this circumstance. Our data revealed that CuO NPs were more easily attached to CNTs rather than cell surface because of the lower energy barrier (3.5 versus 36.2 kT). Further studies confirmed that the presence of CNTs caused the formation of large, incompact, non-uniform dispersed, and more negatively charged CuO-CNTs heteroaggregates, and thus reduced the nanoparticle internalization by cells, leading to less toxicity to metabolism of carbon source, generation of reduction equivalent, and activities of nitrate reductase and nitrite reductase. These results indicate that assessing nanomaterial-induced risks in real circumstances needs to consider the “mixed” effects of nanomaterials.