Acute toxicity assessment of drinking water source with luminescent bacteria: Impact of environmental conditions and a case study in Luoma Lake, East China

Highlights

• Acute toxicity assessment was conducted in Luoma lake watershed, East China.

• Impacts of environmental factors on the toxicity testing was fully evaluated.

• Dissolve oxygen had a weak positive correlation with luminescence inhibition rate.

Abstract

Protecting the quality of lake watersheds by preventing and reducing their contamination is an effective approach to ensure the sustainability of the drinking water supply. In this study, acute toxicity assessment was conducted on the basis of acute bioluminescence inhibition assay using the marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri as the test organism and Luoma Lake drinking water source in East China as the research target. The suitable ranges of environmental factors, including pH value, organic matter, turbidity, hardness, and dissolved oxygen of water samples were evaluated for the toxicity testing of bioluminescent bacteria. The physicochemical characteristics of water samples at the selected 43 sites of Luoma Lake watershed were measured. Results showed that the variations in pH value (7.31–8.41), hardness (5–20 °d) and dissolved oxygen (4.44–11.03 mg/L) of Luoma Lake and its main inflow and outflow rivers had negligible impacts on the acute toxicity testing of V. fischeri. The luminescence inhibition rates ranged from -11.21% to 10.80% at the 43 sites. Pearson’s correlation analysis in the experiment revealed that temperature, pH value, hardness, and turbidity had no correlation with luminescence inhibition rate, whereas dissolved oxygen showed a weak statistically positive correlation with a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.455 (p<0.05).

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Bioluminescent bacteria / Acute toxicity / Pearson correlation analysis / Drinking water source / Vibrio fischeri

References

[1] Alves E, Faustino M A, Tomé J P, Neves M G, Tomé A C, Cavaleiro J A, Cunha Â, Gomes N C, Almeida A (2011). Photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy in aquaculture: Photoinactivation studies of Vibrio fischeri. PLoS One, 6(6): e20970

[2] Bayo J, Angosto J M, Gómez-López M D (2009). Ecotoxicological screening of reclaimed disinfected wastewater by Vibrio fischeri bioassay after a chlorination–dechlorination process. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 172(1): 166–171

[3] Bringmann G, Kühn R (1980). Comparison of the toxicity thresholds of water pollutants to bacteria, algae, and protozoa in the cell multiplication inhibition test. Water Research, 14(3): 231–241

[4] Campisi T, Abbondanzi F, Casado-Martinez C, DelValls T, Guerra R, Iacondini A (2005). Effect of sediment turbidity and color on light output measurement for Microtox® Basic Solid-Phase Test. Chemosphere, 60(1): 9–15

[5] Chen S, Blaney L, Chen P, Deng S, Hopanna M, Bao Y, Yu G (2019). Ozonation of the 5-fluorouracil anticancer drug and its prodrug capecitabine: Reaction kinetics, oxidation mechanisms, and residual toxicity. Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering, 13(4): 59

[6] Chen Z, Zhu Z, Song J, Liao R, Wang Y, Luo X, Nie D, Lei Y, Shao Y, Yang W (2019). Linking biological toxicity and the spectral characteristics of contamination in seriously polluted urban rivers. Environmental Sciences Europe, 31(1): 84

[7] Coz A, González-Piñuela C, Andrés A, Viguri J (2007). Physico-chemical and environmental characterisation of sediments from Cantabrian estuaries (Northern Spain). Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management, 10(1): 41–46

[8] Dalzell D, Alte S, Aspichueta E, de la Sota A, Etxebarria J, Gutierrez M, Hoffmann C, Sales D, Obst U, Christofi N (2002). A comparison of five rapid direct toxicity assessment methods to determine toxicity of pollutants to activated sludge. Chemosphere, 47(5): 535–545

[9] Dong S, Yin C, Chen X (2020). Toxicity-oriented water quality engineering. Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering, 14(5): 80

[10] Faria E C, Treves Brown B J, Snook R D (2004). Water toxicity monitoring using Vibrio fischeri: A method free of interferences from colour and turbidity. Journal of Environmental Monitoring, 6(2): 97–102

[11] Feng S, Li L X, Duan Z G, Zhang J L (2007). Assessing the impacts of South-to-North water transfer project with decision support systems. Decision Support Systems, 42(4): 1989–2003

[12] Fulladosa E, Murat J, Martinez M, Villaescusa I (2004). Effect of pH on arsenate and arsenite toxicity to luminescent bacteria (Vibrio fischeri). Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 46(2): 176–182

[13] Gopal K, Tripathy S S, Bersillon J L, Dubey S P (2007). Chlorination byproducts, their toxicodynamics and removal from drinking water. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 140(1–2): 1–6

[14] ISO (2007). 11348–3: Water Quality: Determination of the Inhibitory Effect of Water Samples on the Light Emission of Vibrio fischeri (Luminiscent Bacteria Test). London: International Organization for Standardization

[15] Kahru A, Tomson K, Pall T, Külm I (1996). Study of toxicity of pesticides using luminescent bacteria photobacterium phosphoreum. Water Science and Technology, 33(6): 147–154

[16] Kaiser K L (1998). Correlations of Vibrio fischeri bacteria test data with bioassay data for other organisms. Environmental Health Perspectives, 106(suppl 2): 583–591

[17] Karatani H, Hastings J W (1993). Two active forms of the accessory yellow fluorescence protein of the luminous bacterium Vibrio fischeri strain Y1. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology. B, Biology, 18(2–3): 227–232

[18] Kuznetsov A M, Rodicheva E K, Medvedeva S E (1999). Analysis of river water by bioluminescent biotests. Luminescence, 14(5): 263–265

[19] Li H, Zhang H, Long J, Zhang P, Chen Y (2019). Combined Fenton process and sulfide precipitation for removal of heavy metals from industrial wastewater: Bench and pilot scale studies focusing on in-depth thallium removal. Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering, 13(4): 49

[20] Ma X Y, Wang X C, Ngo H H, Guo W, Wu M N, Wang N (2014). Bioassay based luminescent bacteria: Interferences, improvements, and applications. Science of the Total Environment, 468-469: 1–11

[21] Ma X Y, Wang X C, Wang D, Ngo H H, Zhang Q, Wang Y, Dai D (2016). Function of a landscape lake in the reduction of biotoxicity related to trace organic chemicals from reclaimed water. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 318(15): 663–670

[22] Parvez S, Venkataraman C, Mukherji S (2006). A review on advantages of implementing luminescence inhibition test (Vibrio fischeri) for acute toxicity prediction of chemicals. Environment International, 32(2): 265–268

[23] Proctor L M, Gunsalus R P (2000). Anaerobic respiratory growth of Vibrio harveyi, Vibrio fischeri and photobacterium leiognathi with trimethylamine N-oxide, nitrate and fumarate: ecological implications. Environmental Microbiology, 2(4): 399–406

[24] Qu R J, Wang X H, Feng M B, Li Y, Liu H X, Wang L S, Wang Z Y (2013). The toxicity of cadmium to three aquatic organisms (Photobacterium phosphoreum, Daphnia magna and Carassius auratus) under different pH levels. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 95(1): 83–90

[25] Ren Y, Liu Y, Hu W, Hao D, Pei H, Tian C, Wei J, Feng Y (2016). Seasonal pattern of cyanobacteria community and its relationship with environmental factors: A case study in Luoma Lake, East China. Desalination and Water Treatment, 57(15): 6658–6669

[26] Ruiz I, Blázquez R, Soto M (2009). Methanogenic toxicity in anaerobic digesters treating municipal wastewater. Bioresource Technology, 100(1): 97–103

[27] Sponza D T, Oztekin R (2010). Removals of PAHs and acute toxicity via sonication in a petrochemical industry wastewater. Chemical Engineering Journal, 162(1): 142–150

[28] Toscano I, Gascón J, Marco M P, Rocha J C, Barceló D (1998). Atrazine interaction with tropical humic substances by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay. Analusis, 26(3): 130–134

[29] Wang L S, Wei D B, Wei J, Hu H Y (2007). Screening and estimating of toxicity formation with photobacterium bioassay during chlorine disinfection of wastewater. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 141(1): 289–294

[30] Woutersen M, Belkin S, Brouwer B, Van Wezel A P, Heringa M B (2011). Are luminescent bacteria suitable for online detection and monitoring of toxic comounds in drinking water and its sources? Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 400(4): 915–929

[31] Yan Z, Liu Y, Yan K, Wu S, Han Z, Guo R, Chen M, Yang Q, Zhang S, Chen J (2017). Bisphenol analogues in surface water and sediment from the shallow Chinese freshwater lakes: Occurrence, distribution, source apportionment, and ecological and human health risk. Chemosphere, 184: 318–328

[32] Zhang L, Li Q, Chen L, Zhang A, He J, Wen Z, Wu L (2015). Toxicity of surface water from Huangpu River to luminous bacteria (Vibrio qinghaiensis SP. Q67) and zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 112: 137–143

[33] Zhang Q, Zhang S H, Wang Z, Guo M, Liu J N, Shi L L, Gu W, Zhang Q, Zhang S H, Wang Z (2017). Pollution level, distribution characteristics and risk assessment of 32 PPCPs in surface water of Luomahu Lake. Environmental Science, 38(1): 162–169 (in Chinese)

[34] Zhang X X, Sun S L, Zhang Y, Wu B, Zhang Z Y, Liu B, Yang L Y, Cheng S P (2010). Toxicity of purified terephthalic acid manufacturing wastewater on reproductive system of male mice (Mus musculus). Journal of Hazardous Materials, 176(1–3): 300–305

[35] Zhou S, Wei Z, Chu T, Yu H, Li S, Zhang W, Gui W (2018). Transcriptomic analysis of zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos to assess integrated biotoxicity of Xitiaoxi River waters. Environmental Pollution, 242: 42–53

[36] Zhou X H, Liu L H, Xu W Q, Song B D, Sheng J W, He M, Shi H C (2015). A reusable evanescent wave immunosensor for highly sensitive detection of bisphenol A in water samples. Scientific Reports, 4(1): 4572

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Provincial Environmental Protection Research Project of Jiangsu (No. 2018002)

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2020 Higher Education Press