Zhang Xuejiao, Zeng Jin, White Jason C, Li Fangbai, Xiong Zhiqiang, Zhang Siyu, Xu Yuze, Yang Jingjing, Tang Weihao, Zhao Qing, Wu Fengchang, Xing Baoshan
National-Regional Joint Engineering Research Center for Soil Pollution Control and Remediation in South China, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Integrated Agro-environmental Pollution Control and Management, Institute of Eco-environmental and Soil Sciences, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, China.
Key Laboratory of Pollution Ecology and Environmental Engineering, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016, China.
Nat Commun. 2025 Jan 3;16(1):184. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-55270-2.
The extensive application of graphene nanosheets (GNSs) has raised concerns over risks to sensitive species in the aquatic environment. The humic acid (HA) corona is traditionally considered to reduce GNSs toxicity. Here, we evaluate the effect of sorbed HA (GNSs-HA) on the toxicity of GNSs to Gram positive Bacillus tropicus. Contrary to previous data, GNSs-HA exhibits greater toxicity compared to GNSs. Multi-omics combined with sensitive bioassays and electrochemical methods reveals GNSs disrupt oxidative phosphorylation by causing physical membrane damage. This leads to the accumulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species and inhibition of ATP production, subsequently suppressing synthetic and metabolic processes and ultimately causing bacterial death. Conversely, GNSs-HA directly extracts electrons from bacteria and oxidized biomolecules due to HA-improved electron transfer. This finding suggests that the HA corona does not always mitigate the toxicity of nanoparticles, thereby introducing uncertainty over the interaction between environmental corona and nanoparticles during ecological risk evaluation.
石墨烯纳米片（GNSs）的广泛应用引发了人们对其对水生环境中敏感物种风险的担忧。腐殖酸（HA）冠层传统上被认为可降低GNSs的毒性。在此，我们评估吸附了HA的GNSs（GNSs-HA）对革兰氏阳性嗜热芽孢杆菌的毒性影响。与先前的数据相反，GNSs-HA比GNSs表现出更大的毒性。多组学结合灵敏的生物测定法和电化学方法表明，GNSs通过造成物理膜损伤来破坏氧化磷酸化。这导致细胞内活性氧的积累和ATP生成的抑制，随后抑制合成和代谢过程并最终导致细菌死亡。相反，由于HA改善了电子转移，GNSs-HA直接从细菌和氧化的生物分子中提取电子。这一发现表明，HA冠层并不总是能减轻纳米颗粒的毒性，从而在生态风险评估期间引入了关于环境冠层与纳米颗粒之间相互作用的不确定性。
