科研工作

2022
Li J, Peng G, Xu X, Liang E, Sun W, Chen Q, Yao L. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in groundwater from a contaminated site in the North China Plain: Occurrence, source apportionment, and health risk assessment. ChemosphereChemosphere. 2022;302.Abstract
Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are manmade chemicals that have wide industrial and commercial application. However, little research has been carried out on PFASs pollution in groundwater from a previously contaminated site. Here, we investigated 43 PFASs in a monitoring campaign from two different aquifers in the North China Plain. Our results revealed that total PFASs concentrations ( n-ary sumation 43PFASs) ranged from 0.22 to 3,776.76 ng/L, with no spatial or compositional differences. Moreover, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluoroheptane sulfonate (PFHpS) were the dominant pollutants with mean concentrations of 177.33 ng/L and 51 ng/L, respectively. n-ary sumation 43PFAS decreased with well depth due to the adsorption of PFASs to the aquifer materials. Water temperature, total organic carbon, dissolved oxygen, and total phosphorus concentrations were correlated to the PFAS concentrations. Principal component analysis indicated that the main sources of PFASs in groundwater were untreated industrial discharge, untreated domestic wastewater, food packaging, aqueous film forming foams and metal plating, and surface runoff, which overlapped with the industries that previously existed in a nearby city. Human health risks from drinking contaminated groundwater were low to the local residents, with children aged 1-2 years being the most sensitive group. One specific site with a high PFOA concentration was of concern, as it was several orders higher than the 70 ng/L recommended by US Environmental Protection Agency health advisory. This study provided baseline data for PFASs in a previously contaminated site, which will help in the development of effective strategies for controlling PFASs pollution in the North China Plain.
Zhao Y, Min H, Luo K, Zhang R, Chen Q, Chen Z. Transcriptomics and proteomics revealed the psychrotolerant and antibiotic-resistant mechanisms of strain Pseudomonas psychrophila RNC-1 capable of assimilatory nitrate reduction and aerobic denitrification. Science of the Total EnvironmentScience of the Total Environment. 2022;820.Abstract
Aerobic denitrification has been proved to be profoundly affected by temperature and antibiotics, but little is known about how aerobic denitrifiers respond to temperature and antibiotic stress. In this study, the nitrate reduction performance and the intracellular metabolism by a psychrotolerant aerobic denitrifying bacteria, named Pseudomonas psychrophila RNC-1, were systematically investigated at different temperatures (10 degrees C, 20 degrees C, 30 degrees C) and different sulfamethoxazole (SMX) concentrations (0 mg/L, 0.1 mg/L, 0.5 mg/L, 1.0 mg/L, and 5.0 mg/L). The results showed that strain RNC-1 performed satisfactory nitrate removal at 10 degrees C and 20 degrees C, but its growth was significantly inhibited at 30 degrees C. Nitrate removal by strain RNC-1 was slightly promoted in the presence of 0.5 mg/L SMX, whereas it was significantly suppressed with 5.0 mg/L SMX. Nitrogen balance analysis indicated that assimilatory nitrate reduction and dissimilatory aerobic denitrification jointly dominated in the nitrate removal process of strain RNC-1, in which the inhibition effected on assimilation process was much higher than that on the aerobic denitrification process under SMX exposure. Further transcriptomics and proteomics analysis revealed that the psychrotolerant mechanism of strain RNC-1 could be attributed to the up-regulation of RNA translation, energy metabolism, ABC transporters and the over-expression of cold shock proteins, while the down-regulation of oxidative phosphorylation pathway was the primary reason for the deteriorative cell growth at 30 degrees C. The promotion of nitrate reduction with 0.5 mg/L SMX was related to the up-regulation of amino acid metabolism pathways, while the down-regulation of folate cycle, glycolysis/gluconeogenesis and bacterial chemotaxis pathways were responsible for the inhibition effect at 5.0 mg/L SMX. This work provides a mechanistic understanding of the metabolic adaption of strain RNC-1 under different stress, which is of significance for its application in nitrogen contaminated wastewater treatment processes.
Liu S, Chen Q, Li J, Li Y, Zhong S, Hu J, Cai H, Sun W, Ni J. Different spatiotemporal dynamics, ecological drivers and assembly processes of bacterial, archaeal and fungal communities in brackish-saline groundwater. Water ResearchWater Research. 2022;214.Abstract
The presence of brackish-saline groundwater (BSG) poses great harms for human health, agricultural and in-dustrial activity. Understanding how the major environmental features in BSG determine microbiota coalescence is crucial for groundwater monitoring optimization. Based on metabarcoding analysis of 242 PCR-amplified samples, we provided the first blueprints about distinct spatiotemporal distributions, ecological drivers and assembly processes of bacterial, archaeal and fungal communities in BSG obtained from new-constructed wells at Xiong'an New Area, China. Our study demonstrated that bacterial and archaeal communities exhibited signifi-cant spatial turnovers, while fungal community displayed the most obvious seasonal variation. Environmental filtering drove bacterial compositions more than those of archaea and fungi. Total dissolved solids (TDS), one of the most critical hydrochemical factors for salinization, had a stronger effect on bacterial spatiotemporal turn -over than on those of the other two taxonomic groups, while chemical oxygen demand (CODMn) was more significantly associated with prokaryotic community variations. Bacterial and archaeal taxa dominated the metacommunity network and connected closely, and TDS was mostly related to archaeal subnetwork topological features, suggesting a significant influence of TDS on species association patterns within archaea. Specific functional guilds like bacterial nitrite oxidation, anammox, and archaeal methanogenesis were enriched in lower-TDS habitats, while higher TDS favored bacterial communities involved in dark oxidation of sulfur compounds, fumarate respiration, and cellulolysis. Finally, we confirmed that bacterial and archaeal assembly processes were governed by determinism in each season, and that of fungi was more regulated by stochasticity. Higher TDS was speculated to lead bacterial assembly more deterministic and that of fungi more random. Together, these findings provided an integrate theoretical framework about the unique responses of the three life domains to brackish-saline stress, and had important implications for microbial ecological prediction in groundwater.
Xu X, Chen H, Hu J, Zheng T, Zhang R, Zhong H, Gao Q, Sun W, Chen Q, Ni J. Unveil the role of dissolved and sedimentary metal(loid)s on bacterial communities and metal resistance genes (MRGs) in an urban river of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Water ResearchWater Research. 2022;211.Abstract
Though metal resistance genes (MRGs) are of global concern in aquatic ecosystems, the underlying factors responsible for MRGs dissemination, especially in urban rivers on the vulnerable Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, are rarely known. Here, we collected 64 samples including water and sediments during the wet and dry seasons and effluents from six wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) during the dry season and measured 50 metal(loid)s, 60 bacterial phyla, and 259 MRGs. We observed the distinct difference of metal(loid)s, bacterial communities, and MRGs between water and sediments and the great seasonal changes in metal(loid)s and bacterial communities instead of MRGs. Thirty-one metal(loid)s were detectable in the water, with relatively low concentrations and no significant effects on the planktonic bacterial communities and MRGs. Interestingly, the WWTPs effluent partially promoted the prevalence of dissolved metal(loid)s, bacterial communities, and MRGs along the river. In the sediments, the average concentrations of 17 metal(loid)s exceeded their corresponding background levels in this region and strongly influenced the bacterial communities and the MRGs. Sedimentary Hg and Cd, mainly sourced from the intensive animal husbandry, were the major pollutants causing ecological risks and largely shaped their corresponding resistomes. Moreover, we found that bacterial communities predominantly determined the variation of MRGs in both water and sediments. Metagenome-assembled genomes further reveals the widespread co-occurrence of MRGs and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in MRG hosts. Our study highlighted the concern of effluents discharged from WWTPs and emphasized the importance of controlling the anthropogenic inputs of sedimentary metal(loid)s in the plateau river ecosystems.
Dang C, Wang J, He Y, Yang S, Chen Y, Liu T, Fu J, Chen Q, Ni J. Rare biosphere regulates the planktonic and sedimentary bacteria by disparate ecological processes in a large source water reservoir. Water ResearchWater Research. 2022;216.Abstract
The bacteria in the water column and surface sediments are inherently intertwined and inseparable in aquatic ecosystems, yet little is known about the integrated spatiotemporal dynamics and driving mechanisms of both planktonic and sedimentary bacterial communities in reservoirs. By investigating the planktonic and sedimentary bacteria during four seasons from 88 samples of 11 representative sites across the Danjiangkou reservoir, we depicted an integrated biogeographic pattern of bacterial communities in the water source of the world's largest water diversion project. Our study revealed both planktonic (mantel r = 0.502, P = 0.001) and sedimentary (mantel r = 0.131, P = 0.009) bacterial communities were significantly correlated with environmental heterogeneity, but a weak disparity along spatial heterogeneity, and the significant seasonal dynamics of planktonic (mantel r = 0.499, P = 0.001) rather than sedimentary bacteria. Particularly, rare biosphere played a main role in determining the community succession in the reservoir. It not only exhibited a more striking environmental separation than abundant taxa but also was an essential part in mediating spatiotemporal shifts of planktonic bacteria and maintaining the stability of bacterial community. These rare bacteria were respectively mediated by stochastic (62.68%) and selective (79.60%) processes in water and sediments despite abundant taxa being largely determined by stochastic processes (86.88-93.96%). Overall, our study not only fills a gap in understanding the bacterial community dynamics and underlying drivers in source water reservoirs, but also highlights the particular importance of rare bacteria in mediating biogeochemical cycles in world's large reservoir ecosystems.
Wang J, Pan R, Dong P, Liu S, Chen Q, Borthwick AGL, Sun L, Xu N, Ni J. Supercarriers of antibiotic resistome in a world's large river. MicrobiomeMicrobiome. 2022;10.Abstract
Background: Antibiotic resistome has been found to strongly interact with the core microbiota in the human gut, yet little is known about how antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) correlate with certain microbes in large rivers that are regarded as "terrestrial gut." Results: By creating the integral pattern for ARGs and antibiotic-resistant microbes in water and sediment along a 4300-km continuum of the Yangtze River, we found that human pathogen bacteria (HPB) share 13.4% and 5.9% of the ARG hosts in water and sediment but contribute 64% and 46% to the total number of planktonic and sedimentary ARGs, respectively. Moreover, the planktonic HPB harbored 79 ARG combinations that are dominated by "natural" supercarriers (e.g., Rheinheimera texasensis and Noviherbaspirillum sp. Root189) in river basins. Conclusions: We confirmed that terrestrial HPB are the major ARG hosts in the river, rather than conventional supercarriers (e.g., Enterococcus spp. and other fecal indicator bacteria) that prevail in the human gut. The discovery of HPB as natural supercarriers in a world's large river not only interprets the inconsistency between the spatial dissimilarities in ARGs and their hosts, but also highlights the top priority of controlling terrestrial HPB in the future ARG-related risk management of riverine ecosystems globally.
Zhang R, Xu X, Jia D, Lyu Y, Hu J, Chen Q, Sun W. Sediments alleviate the inhibition effects of antibiotics on denitrification: Functional gene, microbial community, and antibiotic resistance gene analysis. Science of the Total EnvironmentScience of the Total Environment. 2022;804.Abstract
Both antibiotics and sediments can affect the denitrification in aquatic systems. However, little is known how an-tibiotics influence the denitrification in the presence of sediments. Here, the effects of antibiotics (sulfamethox-azole, tetracycline and ofloxacin) on denitrification in the absence and presence of sediments were investigated. The influencing mechanisms were revealed by quantifying the denitrification functional genes (DNGs), 16S-seq of bacteria, and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). The results showed that the presence of antibiotics inhibited NO3-N reduction by decreasing the abundances of narG, nirK, nosZ, total DNGs, and denitrifying bacteria. How-ever, the inhibition effect was alleviated by sediments, which promoted the growth of bacteria and decreased the selective pressure of antibiotics as the vector of bacteria and antibiotics, thus increasing the abundances of denitrifying bacteria and all the DNGs. Partial least-squares path model disclosed that antibiotics had negative ef-fects on bacteria, ARGs and DNGs, while sediments had negative effects on ARGs but positive effects on bacteria and DNGs. The network analysis further revealed the close relation of the genera Bacillus, Acinetobacter, and En-terobacter with the ARGs and DNGs. The findings are helpful to understand the denitrification in antibiotic-polluted natural waters. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Wang J, Chen Y, Cai P, Gao Q, Zhong H, Sun W, Chen Q. Impacts of municipal wastewater treatment plant discharge on microbial community structure and function of the receiving river in Northwest Tibetan Plateau. Journal of Hazardous MaterialsJournal of Hazardous Materials. 2022;423.Abstract
ABSTR A C T Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents carrying plenty of nutrients and micropollutants pose serious threats to receiving rivers, however, the response of microbial community structure and function to WWTP ef-fluents discharge is still poorly understood. To address this knowledge gap, paired water and sediment samples from 17 sites of the Huangshui River, and effluents from 6 WWTPs were collected to investigate the effect of WWTP discharge on riverine microbial communities. Our results revealed that WWTP effluents exerted signif-icant effects on planktonic rather than sedimentary microorganisms in the receiving river. Notably, lower di-versity and richness of planktonic communities were observed in the effluent-influenced section (WRW) than other river sections (RW) along the urban river. Meanwhile, network analysis potentially revealed lower stability of co-occurrence patterns of microbial communities in WRW. The remarkably higher antibiotics, nitrate-nitrogen, and water temperature in WRW samples caused by WWTPs played essential roles in shaping the structure and function of planktonic microbial communities. This study suggested the enrichment of multiple-drug resistance genes and destruction of energy metabolisms were caused by sewage effluents, and high-lighted the importance of effective management strategies for protecting the ecological health of the receiving river.
Yang S, Chen Q, Zheng T, Chen Y, Zhao X, He Y, Sun W, Zhong S, Li Z, Wang J. Multiple metal(loid) contamination reshaped the structure and function of soil archaeal community. Journal of Hazardous MaterialsJournal of Hazardous Materials. 2022;436.Abstract
Archaea are important participants in biogeochemical cycles of metal(loid)-polluted ecosystems, whereas archaeal structure and function in response to metal(loid) contamination remain poorly understood. Here, the effects of multiple metal(loid) pollution on the structure and function of archaeal communities were investigated in three zones within an abandoned sewage reservoir. We found that the high-contamination zone (Zone I) had higher archaeal diversity but a lower habitat niche breadth, relative to the mid-contamination zone (Zone II) and low-contamination zone (Zone III). Particularly, metal-resistant species represented by potential methanogens were markedly enriched in Zone I (cumulative relative abundance: 32.24%) compared to Zone II (1.93%) and Zone III (0.10%), and closer inter-taxon connections and higher network complexity (based on node number, edge number, and degree) were also observed compared to other zones. Meanwhile, the higher abundances of potential metal-resistant and methanogenic functions in Zone I (0.24% and 9.24%, respectively) than in Zone II (0.08% and 7.52%) and Zone III (0.01% and 1.03%) suggested archaeal functional adaptation to complex metal (loid) contamination. More importantly, six bioavailable metal(loid)s (titanium, tin, nickel, chromium, cobalt, and zinc) were the main contributors to archaeal community variations, and metal(loid) pollution reinforced the role of deterministic processes, particularly homogeneous selection, in the archaeal community assembly.
Zhang R, Xu X, Lyu Y, Zhou Y, Chen Q, Sun W. Impacts of engineered nanoparticles and antibiotics on denitrification: Element cycling functional genes and antibiotic resistance genes. Ecotoxicology and Environmental SafetyEcotoxicology and Environmental Safety. 2022;241.Abstract
The wide presence of antibiotics and minerals warrants their combined effects on the denitrification in natural aquatic environment. Herein, we investigated the effects of two antibiotics, sulfamethazine (SMZ) and chlortetracycline (CTC), on the reduction of NO3--N and accumulation of NO2--N in the absence and presence of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) (Al2O3, SiO2, and geothite) using 16 S rRNA sequencing and high-throughput quantitative PCR. The results showed that the addition of antibiotics inhibited the reduction of NO3--N by changing the bacterial community structure and reducing the abundance of denitrification genes, while engineered NPs promoted the denitrification by increasing the abundance of denitrification genes. In the binary systems, engineered NPs alleviated the inhibitory effect of antibiotics through enriching the denitrification genes and adsorbing antibiotics. Antibiotics and its combination with engineered NPs changed the composition of functional genes related to C, N, P, S metabolisms (p < 0.01). The addition of antibiotics and/or engineered NPs altered the bacterial community structure, which is dominated by the genera of Enterobacter (40.7-90.5%), Bacillus (4.9-58.5%), and Pseudomonas (0.21-12.7%). The significant relationship between denitrification, carbon metabolism genes, and antibiotic resistance genes revealed that the heterotrophic denitrifying bacteria may host the antibiotic resistance genes and denitrification genes simultaneously. The findings underscore the significance of engineered NPs in the toxicity assessment of pollutants, and provide a more realistic insight into the toxicity of antibiotics in the natural aquatic environment.
Hu J, Qi D, Chen Q, Sun W. Comparison and prioritization of antibiotics in a reservoir and its inflow rivers of Beijing, China. Environmental Science and Pollution ResearchEnvironmental Science and Pollution Research. 2022;29:25209-25221.Abstract
The occurrence of antibiotics in drinking water resources, like reservoirs, is of considerable concern due to their potential risks to ecosystem, human health, and antimicrobial resistance development. Here, we quantified 83 antibiotics in water and sediments of wet and dry seasons from the Miyun reservoir and its inflow rivers in Beijing, China. Twenty-four antibiotics were detected in water with concentrations of ND-11.6 ng/L and 19 antibiotics were observed in sediments with concentrations of ND-6.50 ng/g. Sulfonamides (SAs) were the dominated antibiotics in water in two seasons. SAs and quinolones (QNs) in wet season and macrolides (MLs) and QNs in dry season predominated in sediments. The reservoir and inflow rivers showed significant differences in antibiotic concentrations and compositions in water and sediments. As an important input source of reservoir, the river water showed significantly higher total antibiotic concentrations than those in the reservoir. In contrast, the reservoir sediments are the sink of antibiotics, and had higher total antibiotic concentrations compared with rivers. A prioritization approach based on the overall risk scores and detection frequencies of antibiotics was developed, and 3 (sulfaguanidine, anhydroerythromycin, and sulfamethoxazole) and 5 (doxycycline, sulfadiazine, clarithromycin, roxithromycin, and flumequine) antibiotics with high and moderate priority, respectively, were screened. The study provides a comprehensive insight of antibiotics in the Miyun Reservoir and its inflow rivers, and is significant for future monitoring and pollution mitigation of antibiotics.
Luo K, Chen L, Du L, Zhao Y, Chen Q. Response of the aerobic denitrifying phosphorus accumulating bacteria Pseudomonas psychrophila HA-2 to low temperature and zinc oxide nanoparticles stress. Bioresource technologyBioresource Technology. 2022;354:127162-127162.Abstract
Performance and molecular changes of an aerobic denitrifying phosphorus accumulating bacteria Pseudomonas psychrophila HA-2 have been investigated under different temperatures and ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) exposures. Strain HA-2 removed 95.7% of total nitrogen (TN) and 24.6% of phosphorus at 10°C, which was attributed to the joint up-regulation of intracellular energy metabolism and ribosome. Moreover, with the increase of ZnO NPs from 0 to 100mg/L, TN and phosphurs removal efficiencies decreased from 95.7% to 44.5% and 24.6% to 6.8% at 10°C, respectively, whereas phosphorus removal rate increased from 10.5% to 24.5% at 20°C. Further transcriptomics and proteomics revealed that significant down-regulation of purine and amino acid metabolisms was the main reason for the inhibitory effect at 10°C, while the up-regulation of antioxidant pathways and functional genes expressions was responsible for the promoted phosphorus accumulation at 20°C. This study provides a potential solution for improving biological nutrients removal processes in winter months.
Luo K, Chen L, Zhao Y, Peng G, Chen Z, Chen Q. Transcriptomics uncover the response of an aerobic denitrifying bacteria to zinc oxide nanoparticles exposure. Environmental TechnologyEnvironmental Technology. 2022.Abstract
Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) show adverse impacts on aerobic denitrifying bacteria, little is known about the response of these bacteria to ZnO NPs exposure at cellular level. This study assessed the multiple responses of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PCN-2 under ZnO NPs exposure. We demonstrated that ZnO NPs exposure could inhibit the intracellular metabolism and stimulate the antioxidant defence capability of PCN-2. At lower exposure concentration (5 mg/L), exogenous ROS generated and resulted in the inhibition of pyruvate metabolism and citrate cycle, which caused deficient energy for aerobic denitrification. At higher concentrations (50 mg/L), endogenous ROS additionally generated and triggered to stronger down-regulation of oxidative phosphorylation, which caused suppressed electron transfers for aerobic denitrification. Meanwhile, ZnO NPs exposure promoted EPS production and biofilm formation, and antioxidases was especially particularly stimulated at higher concentration. Our findings are significant for understanding of microbial bacterial susceptibility, tolerance and resistance under the exposure of ZnO NPs.
2021
Wang HZ, Gao Q, Liu S, Chen Q. Simultaneous nitrogen and carbon removal in a single biological aerated filter by the bioaugmentation with heterotrophic-aerobic nitrogen removal bacteria. Environmental TechnologyEnvironmental Technology. 2021;42:3716-3724.Abstract
Agrobacterium sp. LAD9 capable of heterotrophic-aerobic nitrogen removal was applied into a single biological aerated filter (BAF) for bioaugmented treatment of municipal wastewater. The achievement of simultaneous nitrogen and carbon removal in the bioaugmented system was systematically evaluated by ratios of COD to nitrogen (COD/N), ranging from 1 to 20. The results showed that at an appropriate COD/N ratio of 10, the BAF exhibited excellent carbon and nutrients removal, the averaged removal efficiencies for COD, NH4+-N and TN were 92.3%, 100% and 80.0%, respectively. Long-term operation of the bioaugmented system also confirmed the stability of the treatment efficiency. Further comparisons of SOUR and PCR-DGGE profiles between the bioaugmented and the control system revealed that the introduction of strain LAD9 greatly changed the structure of original microbial community and facilitated their capabilities of aerobic nutrients removal. The proposed bioaugmentation strategy is of particular importance to upgrading or retrofitting concurrent municipal wastewater treatment systems. [GRAPHICS] .
Li J, Chen Q, Wang T, Wang HZ, Ni J. Hydrochemistry and nutrients determined the distribution of greenhouse gases in saline groundwater. Environmental PollutionEnvironmental Pollution. 2021;286.Abstract
The geography patterns and generation mechanisms of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in groundwater, especially in saline groundwater, are critical but rarely studied. Herein, we investigated the GHGs distribution in an aquifer, located upstream of Baiyangdian Lake, China, with a distinctive salinity gradient. A total of 132 groundwater samples were collected from 44 new-constructed wells along the lateral dimensions, and analyzed for dissolved GHGs concentrations, physiochemical parameters, and isotopes. The results showed that the dissolved CO2, CH4 and N2O concentrations ranged from 9.47 to 79.3 mg/L, 1.05-56.9 mu g/L, and 0.84-7.03 mu g/L, respectively. The groundwater was supersaturated with GHGs with respect to atmospheric equilibrium, suggesting groundwater discharge as a potential source of GHGs emission. CO2 significantly decreased while CH4 and N2O distinctively increased with the decline of total dissolved solids (TDS) concentration, illustrating an obvious spatial pattern in the GHGs distribution. The CO2 distributions mainly depended on the bicarbonate radical and TDS, indicating carbonate equilibrium as the main process involving in the CO2 generation. CH4 and N2O was primarily generated through the methanogenesis and denitrification processes, respectively. Nutrients including SO42- and total organic carbon predominately shaped the CH4 distributions, while nitrate mainly governed the N2O dis-tributions. Our study highlights the important roles of hydrochemistry and nutrients in the GHGs generation and distributions, which provides a significant insight on managing the GHGs emissions from the saline groundwater.
Dang C, Liu S, Chen Q, Sun W, Zhong H, Hu J, Liang E, Ni J. Response of microbial nitrogen transformation processes to antibiotic stress in a drinking water reservoir. Science of the Total EnvironmentScience of the Total Environment. 2021;797.Abstract
Effects of antibiotics on microbial nitrogen transformation processes in natural aquatic ecosystems are largely unknown. In this study, we utilized the N-15 stable isotope tracers and metagenomic sequencing to identify how antibiotics drive nitrogen transformation processes in Danjiangkou Reservoir, which is the largest artificial drinking water reservoir in China. We retrieved 51 nitrogen functional genes, and found that the highest abundances of nitrate reduction and denitrification-related genes occurred in dissimilatory nitrogen transformation pathways. N-15-labelling analysis substantiated that denitrification was the main pathway for nitrogen removal, accounting for 57.1% of nitrogen loss. Nitrogen functional genes and antibiotic resistance genes co-occurred in Danjiangkou Reservoir, and they were mainly carried by the denitrifying bacteria such as Rhodoferax, Polaromonas, Limnohabitans, Pararheinheimera, Desulfobulbus, and Pseudopelobacter. Genome annotation revealed that antibiotic deactivation, Resistance-Nodulation-Division and facilitator superfamily efflux pumps were responsible for the multiple-resistance to antibiotics in these bacteria. Moreover, antibiotics showed non-significant effects on nitrogen transformation processes. It is speculated that denitrifying bacteria harboring ARGs played crucial roles in protecting nitrogen transformation from low-level antibiotics stress in the reservoir. Our results highlight that denitrifying bacteria are important hosts of ARGs, which provides a novel perspective for evaluating the effects of antibiotics on nitrogen cycle in natural aquatic ecosystems. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Jia J, Liang C, Wu X, Xiong L, Bao P, Chen Q, Yan P. Effect of high proportion concentrate dietary on Yak jejunal structure, physiological function and protein composition during cold season. Scientific ReportsScientific Reports. 2021;11.Abstract
The current study aimed to investigate the damage of long-term high concentrate diet feeding pattern on Yak jejunal structure, physiological function and protein composition during cold season. Twelve Datong male Yak (Bos grunniens) with the same age from cold season were randomly selected and slaughtered to determine Yak jejunal digestive enzyme activity, morphology and protein composition on different feeding patterns in Tibetan Plateau. The results showed that Yak jejunum digestive enzyme activity and morphology of grazing reared group were better than those in the intensively reared group. A total of 96 differentially expressed proteins were identified by label-free Mass Spectrometry (MS), which could be concluded to two predominant themes: protein structure and inflammatory response. Nine differentially expressed proteins were correlated in Yak jejunum damage in different feeding patterns. According to this research, we found that feeding pattern resulted the differences in Yak jejunum physiological function, morphology and protein composition. This fact was confirmed long-term high dietary concentrate feeding could damage the jejunum epithelial morphology and function.
Liu S, Cai H, Wang J, Wang H, Zheng T, Chen Q, Ni J. In-situ expressions of comammox Nitrospira along the Yangtze River. Water ResearchWater Research. 2021;200.Abstract
The recent discovery of comammox Nitrospira as complete nitrifiers has significantly enriched our under-standing on the nitrogen cycle, yet little is known about their metabolic transcripts in natural aquatic ecosystems. Using the genome-centric metatranscriptomics, we provided the first in-situ expression pat-terns of comammox Nitrospira along the Yangtze River. Our study confirmed widespread expressions of comammox Nitrospira, with the highest transcription accounting for 33.3% and 63.8% of amoA and nxrAB genes expressed in ammonia-oxidizing prokaryotes (AOPs) and Nitrospira sublineages I/II, respectively. Moreover, comammox two clades differed in nitrification, with clade A acting as the dominator to am-monia oxidation in comammox, and clade B contributing more transcripts to nitrite oxidation than to ammonia oxidation. Compared to canonical Nitrospira, comammox community had lower expressions of ammonia/nitrite transporters and nitrogen assimilatory genes, but far higher expressions in urea trans-port and hydrolysis, facilitating to derivation of ammonia and energy mainly through intracellular ure-olytic metabolism. This suggests no need for "reciprocal-feeding" between canonical Nitrospira and AOPs in a natural river. Aerobic mixotrophy of comammox bacteria was suggested by expressions of genes coding for respiratory complexes I-V, oxidative/reductive TCA cycle, oxygen stress defenses, and trans-port/catabolism of simple carbohydrates and low-biosynthetic-cost amino acids. Intriguingly, significant positive correlations among expressions of ammonia monooxygenases, hydroxylamine dehydrogenase and copper-dependent nitrite reductase indicated that comammox Nitrospira had the potential of converting nitrite to nitric oxide accompanied by ammonia oxidation under low-C/N and aerobic conditions, while gene expressions in this pathway were significantly and positively associated with pH. Overall, this study illustrated novel transcriptional characteristics of comammox Nitrospira, and highlighted the necessity of reassessing their contributions to biogeochemical carbon and nitrogen cycling with perspective of in-situ meta-omics as well as culture experiments. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Wang HZ, Huang R, Li J, Chen Q, Ma T. Dissolved and emitted methane in the Poyang Lake. Science China-Technological SciencesScience China-Technological Sciences. 2021;64:203-212.Abstract
Lake waters often act as important methane sources for global greenhouse gas emission, but it would be more complex as lakes are regulated by rivers. In this study, seasonal variations of dissolved and emitted methane in the Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China, are investigated based on a specially designed monitoring. As a typical subtropical linking-to-river lake, the Poyang shows characteristics of the "lake" in wet season and the "river" in dry season alternatively over a year. Consequently, CH(4)flux from the Poyang Lake to the Yangtze River closes to the highest in January due to concentrated dissolved CH(4)and "river" effects in dry season, while CH(4)flux to the atmosphere falls to the lowest in July because of intensified CH(4)oxidization and diluted dissolved CH(4)as well as "lake" effects in wet season. Overall, CH(4)fluxes from Poyang Lake to the atmosphere and to the Yangtze River were 19 and 0.35 Gg CH(4)yr(-1), respectively. The Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest dam in the Yangtze River, would further intensify this pattern, enhancing the transformation between "lake phase" and "river phase". This study also provides the paradigm for CH(4)budget from other large lakes in similar situations around the world.
Zheng T, Dang C, Zhong S, Sun W, Chen Q. Spatiotemporal distribution, risk assessment and source appointment of metal(loid)s in water and sediments of Danjiangkou Reservoir, China. Environmental Geochemistry and HealthEnvironmental Geochemistry and Health. 2021;43:139-152.Abstract
Danjiangkou Reservoir is the biggest artificial reservoir in China. But spatiotemporal distribution and risks of metal(loid)s in it were still unclear after the operation of Middle Route of South-to-North Water Diversion Project. In this study, distribution pattern of fifteen metal(loid)s in the Danjiangkou Reservoir was investigated. It was shown that metal(loid)s concentrations in the water were much lower than the drinking water quality standards in China, while Sb, Co, Cd and Cr were identified as the major pollutants in the sediments. Environment-metal(loid)s correlation analysis revealed total organic carbon, sulfate, temperature, dissolved oxygen and total phosphorus markedly controlled metal(loid)s distribution in the water, while organic carbon, total phosphorus and ammonia nitrogen shaped their distribution in the sediments. Results of risk assessment further revealed that the sediments of Danjiangkou Reservoir were minor to moderate polluted, and Sb, Cd exhibited the highest potential ecological risk. Additionally, source identification showed agricultural activities (25.3%), industrial and mining activities (17.5%) and natural processes (57.2%) were the dominant sources of metal(loid)s burden in the sediments. Overall, the results are of significance to understanding the ecological risk and pollution sources in the Danjiangkou Reservoir, which is essential for the effective management of metal(loid)s pollution.

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