Water-dispersible nano-pollutions reshape microbial metabolism in type-specific manners: A metabolic and bacteriological investigation in Escherichia coli

Highlights

• Water-dispersible nano-pollutions exhibit type-specific toxic effects on E. coli.

• Global metabolite profiling was used to characterize metabolic disruption patterns.

• Key dysregulated metabolites responsive to nano-pollution exposures were found.

• Amino acid metabolism and purine metabolism are perturbed at nano-pollutions.

Abstract

Incomplete separation and recycling of nanoparticles are causing undesirable nanopollution and thus raising great concerns with regard to nanosafety. Since microorganisms are important regulator of physiological processes in many organisms, the interaction between nanopollution and microbial metabolomics and the resultant impact on the host’s health are important but unclear. To investigate how typical nanopollution perturbs microbial growth and metabolism, Escherichia coli (E. coli) in vitro was treated with six water-dispersible nanomaterials (nanoplastic, nanosilver, nano-TiO₂, nano-ZnO, semiconductor quantum dots (QDs), carbon dots (CDs)) at human-/environment-relevant concentration levels. The nanomaterials exhibited type-specific toxic effects on E. coli growth. Global metabolite profiling was used to characterize metabolic disruption patterns in the model microorganism exposed to different nanopollutants. The percentage of significant metabolites (p<0.05, VIP>1) accounted for 6%–38% of the total 293 identified metabolites in each of the nanomaterial-contaminated bacterial groups. Metabolic results also exhibited significant differences between different nanopollutants and dose levels, revealing type-specific and untypical concentration-dependent metabolic responses. Key metabolites responsive to nanopollution exposures were mainly involved in amino acid and purine metabolisms, where 5, 4, and 7 significant metabolic features were included in arginine and proline metabolism, phenylalanine metabolism, and purine metabolism, respectively. In conclusion, this study horizontally compared and demonstrated how typical nanopollution perturbs microbial growth and metabolomics in a type-specific manner, which broadens our understanding of the ecotoxicity of nanopollutants on microorganisms.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Nano-toxicity / Nano-plastics / Quantum dots / Microbial metabolite / Metabolic dysregulation

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge financial support from the projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22006143 and 21806189), the Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou (China) (No. 202102020601), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (China) (No. 2021A1515012336), the Guangdong Provincial Key R&D Programme (China) (No. 2020B1111350002), and the special project of Guangdong Enterprise Science and Technology Commissioner (China) (No. GDKTP2021011600).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-022-1548-1 and is accessible for authorized users.

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