Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon and n-alkane pollution characteristics and structural and functional perturbations to the microbial community: a case-study of historically petroleum-contaminated soil

Characterization of the typical petroleum pollutants, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and n-alkanes, and indigenous microbial community structure and function in historically contaminated soil at petrol stations is critical. Five soil samples were collected from a petrol station in Beijing, China. The concentrations of 16 PAHs and 31 n-alkanes were measured by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The total concentrations of PAHs and n-alkanes ranged from 973 ± 55 to 2667 ± 183 μg/kg and 6.40 ± 0.38 to 8.65 ± 0.59 mg/kg (dry weight), respectively, which increased with depth. According to the observed molecular indices, PAHs and n-alkanes originated mostly from petroleum-related sources. The levels of ΣPAHs and the total toxic benzo[a]pyrene equivalent (ranging from 6.41 to 72.54 μg/kg) might exert adverse biological effects. Shotgun metagenomic sequencing was employed to investigate the indigenous microbial community structure and function. The results revealed that Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were the most abundant phyla, and Nocardioides and Microbacterium were the important genera. Based on COG and KEGG annotations, the highly abundant functional classes were identified, and these functions were involved in allowing microorganisms to adapt to the pressure from contaminants. Five petroleum hydrocarbon degradation-related genes were annotated, revealing the distribution of degrading microorganisms. This work facilitates the understanding of the composition, source, and potential ecological impacts of residual PAHs and n-alkanes in historically contaminated soil.

     

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纳米氧化锌粒径效应对人工湿地运行性能的影响

为考察ZnO NPs粒径效应对人工湿地运行性能的影响,在进水COD约为216.00 mg·L-1、总氮约为11.10 mg·L-1和总磷约为3.84 mg·L-1的条件下连续运行126 d,对暴露于不同粒径ZnO NPs(10.00mg·L-1)的人工湿地脱氮除磷性能、填料渗透系数、胞外聚合物(extracellular polymeric substances,EPS)产量和特性以及微生物群落结构和多样性的变化进行了研究.结果表明:与对照组(未投加ZnONPs)相比,进水中投加15、50和90nm ZnO NPs后,人工湿地对COD的去除率分别下降了8.73％、7.55％和6.97％;氨氮和总氮的去除率分别下降了21.96％和10.95％、17.75％和10.00％以及15.34％和3.78％.高通量测序结果表明,ZnO NPs粒径越小,对硝化菌属Thauera的抑制作用越明显.投加Zn ONPs后,其释放的Zn2+会与水中磷酸盐结合生成磷酸锌等不溶物,同时会增加异养硝化菌Acinetobacter的相对丰度,从而导致总磷的去除率比对照组提高了42.49％～56.38％.此外,与对照组(97.18 mg·g-1)相比,投加15、50和90 nm的ZnO NPs后EPS的产量分别增加到212.97、156.30和128.53 mg·g-1.EPS分泌量的增大,导致填料渗透系数快速降低,在运行83 d后分别下降了71.17％、67.83％和37.50％.