Department of Biology, Dowling College, Oakdale, New York, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2012;7(8):e42663. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0042663. Epub 2012 Aug 8.
It is not known if the annual production of tonnes of industrial nanoparticles (NPs) has the potential to impact terrestrial microbial communities, which are so necessary for ecosystem functioning. Here, we have examined the consequences of adding zero valent copper and zinc oxide NPs to soil in pots that were then maintained under field conditions. The fate of these NPs, as well as changes in the microbial communities, was monitored over 162 days. Both NP types traveled through the soil matrix, albeit at differential rates, with Cu NPs retained in the soil matrix at a higher rate compared to ZnO NPs. Leaching of Cu and Zn ions from the parent NPs was also observed as a function of time. Analysis of microbial communities using culture-dependent and independent methods clearly indicated that Cu and ZnO NPs altered the microbial community structure. In particular, two orders of organisms found in rhizosphere, Flavobacteriales and Sphingomonadales, appeared to be particularly susceptible to the presence of NPs. Together, the migration of NPs through soil matrix and the ability of these potential pollutants to influence the composition of microbial community in this field study, cannot help but raise some environmental concerns.
目前尚不清楚每年生产数公吨的工业纳米粒子（NPs）是否有可能影响到陆地微生物群落，而这些微生物群落对于生态系统的功能是如此必要。在这里，我们研究了将零价铜和氧化锌 NPs 添加到土壤中对土壤的影响，然后将这些土壤在田间条件下进行培养。在 162 天的时间里，监测了这些 NPs 的命运以及微生物群落的变化。这两种类型的 NPs 都通过土壤基质迁移，尽管迁移速度不同，与 ZnO NPs 相比，Cu NPs 在土壤基质中的保留率更高。随着时间的推移，还观察到从原始 NPs 中浸出 Cu 和 Zn 离子。使用依赖培养和非依赖培养的方法分析微生物群落，清楚地表明 Cu 和 ZnO NPs 改变了微生物群落结构。特别是，在根际中发现的两个生物类群，黄杆菌目（Flavobacteriales）和鞘氨醇单胞菌目（Sphingomonadales），似乎特别容易受到 NPs 的存在的影响。综上所述，NP 通过土壤基质的迁移以及这些潜在污染物在田间研究中影响微生物群落组成的能力，无疑引起了一些环境方面的担忧。
