好氧颗粒污泥耐受PFOS的结构稳定性及微生物响应

以好氧颗粒污泥为接种污泥,通过全氟辛烷磺酸(PFOS)长期驯化实现耐PFOS颗粒的培养,考察不同驯化时期的污泥基本特性,并结合微生物群落演替过程、微生物表型分布以及功能途径的变化情况,以揭示其耐受机制.结果表明,好氧颗粒污泥经历解体、再形成和成熟3个阶段后可在PFOS暴露下稳定维持.驯化成熟后的好氧颗粒污泥表面丝状菌减少,并且被大量胞外聚合物(EPS)所包裹,结构更加致密.驯化期间颗粒污泥中存在大量抗性细菌以及维持颗粒稳定相关细菌,主要包括unclassified＿f＿＿Comamonadaceae、Defluviicoccus、Dongia、Rhodoplanes、Flavobacterium、Thauera、Azospira、Candidatus＿Competibacter、Azoarcus和norank＿f＿＿A4b,且部分菌属间存在显著的正相关性.群体感应途径和细菌趋化途径相关基因丰度在解体期上调,在颗粒形成和成熟期恢复至初始水平,说明细菌的群体感应效应和趋化性能够在颗粒应激过程中起重要作用.因此,好氧颗粒污泥可以通过特定菌群积极响应、促进细菌趋化作用和群体感应作用、提高EPS...     

Integral assessment of estrogenic potentials of sediment-associated samples

GOAL, SCOPE AND BACKGROUND: Exogenic endocrine-active substances are also called 'Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals' (EDC). They imitate or hinder the function of natural endogenic hormones or disturb the synthesis or the metabolism of hormones or of hormone receptors. The Enzyme-Linked Receptor Assay (ELRA) can detect estrogenic and anti-estrogenic effects at the level of receptor binding and is a useful tool for the integrative detection of contaminant effects. Although the test system has been used repeatedly in sediment assessments, the questions have remained concerning how it responds to variations in the physico-chemical matrix. For some bioassays, the salinity of the sample is a critical factor. This is especially relevant when testing wastewater samples or when sediment-associated samples in the tidal reaches of rivers are tested. Sediments in the tidal reaches of rivers change their salinity several times a day. Against this background, it would be beneficial to have a test procedure of known salinity tolerance. On account of this, the salinity tolerance of the ELRA was tested, assessed with reference substances at several salinity levels, and compared with the E-Screen method and a Yeast Estrogen Screen (YES), which are also frequently applied in environmental testing. The aim of this paper was to explore when the salinity limits within these test procedures are applicable. The trials should reveal the working range to be expected, characterize the salinity-dependent variations in sensitivity of the test, and provide options for methodological adjustments to improve the stability against increased salinity. METHODS: The ELRA was carried out with the human Estrogen Receptor alpha. (ER) using the same principle like a competitive immunoassay based on ligand-protein interaction. However, an essential difference is the use of a physiologically relevant receptor instead of an antibody as a linking protein. The ELRA measures the competition of sample estrogens and anti-estrogens against estradiol supplied as a BSA-coating conjugate for the binding site of dissolved ER. Estradiol or xeno-estrogen binding is quantified by a biotynilated anti-ER antibody and the subsequent measurement of peroxidase activity by a streptavidin-POD-biotin complex. The E-Screen was performed with the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7, which expresses the estrogen receptor constitutively. Cell proliferation depends on binding of estrogens or xeno-estrogens with the receptor. After incubation, estrogen-dependent cell growth was measured by sulforhodamin B staining. The YES was performed with a recombinant yeast strain, transfected with a receptor and a reporter plasmid bearing the estrogen receptor and a vitellogenin gene fused with the reporter gene lacZ. Estrogen or xeno-estrogen-dependent gene induction was measured indirectly by LacZ activity. The salinity levels were simulated in varying concentrations with NaCl from 0 to 40 per thousand or Artificial Sea Water (ASW) from 0 to 32 per thousand. RESULTS: The study characterized the factor 'salinity' for the prospective application fields of the ELRA. With reference substances such as 17-beta-estradiol, the ELRA showed classical sigmoidal concentration-effect relations in a range from 0.05 to 100 microg/l under physiological conditions. After a methodological adjustment to compensate decreasing receptor-binding affinity of estrogens and xeno-estrogens at higher salinity levels, the ELRA became applicable under salinity conditions up to concentrations of 20.5 per thousand. In tests, the ELRA reached under the influence of salinity a mean limit of detection of 0.062 microg/l 17-beta-estradiol. The mean relative inter-test error was around 11%. Above concentrations of 20.5 per thousand there is a risk of false negative assessment. Compared with the E-Screen method using the MCF7 cell line and the yeast estrogen test system (YES), the ELRA shows a lower sensitivity to 17-beta-estradiol. In the E-Screen, the cell proliferation was strongly reduced by sodium chloride induced cytotoxicity. In comparison with the E-Screen, the salinity tolerance of the YES and YAS methods is significantly higher. DISCUSSION: Despite adaption, total salinity tolerance could not be achieved with the ELRA. Freshwater samples were generally appraisable. Higher salinity levels above 20.5 per thousand would tend towards false negative results. The low inter-test error of 11% makes the ELRA suitable for the detection of estrogenic and anti-estrogenic potentials of single substances, substance mixtures, and of environmental samples. CONCLUSIONS: The ELRA is very fast and reproducible, it can be used for high-throughput screening in a microplate format at low cost, it is robust to microbial contamination, and is less susceptible to cytotoxic interferences than cell culture methods. RECOMMENDATIONS AND PERSPECTIVES: In their established form, the YES and the E-Screen methods are not applicable for liquid phase testing at higher salinity conditions. The salinity-adapted test version of the ELRA described here shows a broader working range for samples. Native water samples of more or less brackish origin or high-salinity effluent samples are testable. Results of tests with sediment associated samples of different salinity will be subject of a forthcoming publication.     

Arsenate tolerance in Silene paradoxa does not rely on phytochelatin-dependent sequestration

Arsenate tolerance, As accumulation and As-induced phytochelatin accumulation were compared in populations of Silene paradoxa, one from a mine site enriched in As, Cu and Zn, the other from an uncontaminated site. The mine population was significantly more arsenate-tolerant. Arsenate uptake and root-to-shoot transport were slightly but significantly higher in the non-mine plants. The difference in uptake was quantitatively insufficient to explain the difference in tolerance between the populations. As accumulation in the roots was similar in both populations, but the mine plants accumulated much less phytochelatins than the non-mine plants. The mean phytochelatin chain length, however, was higher in the mine population, possibly due to a constitutively lower cellular glutathione level. It is argued that the mine plants must possess an arsenic detoxification mechanism other than arsenate reduction and subsequent phytochelatin-based sequestration. This alternative mechanism might explain at least some part of the superior tolerance in the mine plants.     

Metal homeostasis in Hypogymnia physodes is controlled by lichen substances

The hypothesis was tested that the lichen substances produced by the epiphytic lichen Hypogymnia physodes control the intracellular uptake of divalent transition metals. Incubating lichen thalli with and without their natural content of lichen substances with metal solutions showed that the lichen substances of H. physodes selectively inhibit the uptake of Cu(2+) and Mn(2+), but not of Fe(2+) and Zn(2+). Such behavior is ecologically beneficial, as ambient concentrations of Cu(2+) and Mn(2+) in precipitation and bark are known to limit the abundance of H. physodes, whereas limiting effects of Fe(2+) or Zn(2+) have never been found. This suggests that increasing the Cu(2+) and Mn(2+) tolerance stimulated the evolution of lichen substances in H. physodes. The depsidone physodalic acid is apparently most effective at reducing Cu(2+) and Mn(2+) uptake among the seven lichen substances produced by H. physodes. Probably lichen substances play a general role in the metal homeostasis of lichens.     

Soil metal concentrations and productivity of Betula populifolia (gray birch) as measured by field spectrometry and incremental annual growth in an abandoned urban Brownfield in New Jersey

A forested brownfield within Liberty State Park, Jersey City, New Jersey, USA, has soils with arsenic, chromium, lead, zinc and vanadium at concentrations above those considered ambient for the area. Using both satellite imagery and field spectral measurements, this study examines plant productivity at the assemblage and individual specimen level. Longer term growth trends (basal area increase in tree cores) were also studied. Leaf chlorophyll content within the hardwood assemblage showed a threshold model for metal tolerance, decreasing significantly beyond a soil total metal load (TML) of 3.0. Biomass production (calculated with RG - Red/Green Ratio Index) in Betula populifolia (gray birch), the co-dominant tree species, had an inverse relationship with the Zn concentration in leaf tissue during the growing season. Growth of B. populifolia exhibited a significant relationship with TML. Assemblage level NDVI and individual tree NDVI also had significant decreases with increasing TML. Ecosystem function measured as plant production is impaired at a critical soil metal load.     

Arsenic accumulation by the aquatic fern Azolla: comparison of arsenate uptake, speciation and efflux by A. caroliniana and A. filiculoides

This study investigates As accumulation and tolerance of the aquatic fern Azolla. Fifty strains of Azolla showed a large variation in As accumulation. The highest- and lowest-accumulating ferns among the 50 strains were chosen for further investigations. Azolla caroliniana accumulated two times more As than Azolla filiculoides owing to a higher influx velocity for arsenate. A. filiculoides was more resistant to external arsenate due to a lower uptake. Both strains showed a similar degree of tolerance to internal As. Arsenate and arsenite were the dominant As species in both Azolla strains, with methlyated As species accounting for <5% of the total As. A. filiculoides had a higher proportion of arsenite than A. caroliniana. Both strains effluxed more arsenate than arsenite, and the amount of As efflux was proportional to the amount of As accumulation. The potential of growing Azolla in paddy fields to reduce As transfer from soil and water to rice should be further evaluated.     

Effect of risk aversion on prioritizing conservation projects

Conservation outcomes are uncertain. Agencies making decisions about what threat mitigation actions to take to save which species frequently face the dilemma of whether to invest in actions with high probability of success and guaranteed benefits or to choose projects with a greater risk of failure that might provide higher benefits if they succeed. The answer to this dilemma lies in the decision maker's aversion to risk—their unwillingness to accept uncertain outcomes. Little guidance exists on how risk preferences affect conservation investment priorities. Using a prioritization approach based on cost effectiveness, we compared 2 approaches: a conservative probability threshold approach that excludes investment in projects with a risk of management failure greater than a fixed level, and a variance‐discounting heuristic used in economics that explicitly accounts for risk tolerance and the probabilities of management success and failure. We applied both approaches to prioritizing projects for 700 of New Zealand's threatened species across 8303 management actions. Both decision makers’ risk tolerance and our choice of approach to dealing with risk preferences drove the prioritization solution (i.e., the species selected for management). Use of a probability threshold minimized uncertainty, but more expensive projects were selected than with variance discounting, which maximized expected benefits by selecting the management of species with higher extinction risk and higher conservation value. Explicitly incorporating risk preferences within the decision making process reduced the number of species expected to be safe from extinction because lower risk tolerance resulted in more species being excluded from management, but the approach allowed decision makers to choose a level of acceptable risk that fit with their ability to accommodate failure. We argue for transparency in risk tolerance and recommend that decision makers accept risk in an adaptive management framework to maximize benefits and avoid potential extinctions due to inefficient allocation of limited resources. El Efecto de la Aversión de Riesgo sobre la Priorización de Proyectos de Conservación     

重金属复合污染对蚕豆性状影响的模糊聚类与性状代间分化的摄动分析

运用正交设计，经过４代的原位种植实验，获得了Ｐｂ＾２＋、Ｃｄ＾２＋、Ｈｇ＾２＋、Ｚｎ＾２＋复合污染对同一蚕豆种质在株高、首次开花时间、每株结豆荚数、单位豆荚豆粒数（每２０个豆荚）、种子的重量（５０粒）等数量性状的表型数据。利用模糊聚类和摄动分析方法，获得了２５种污染组合对蚕豆数量性状影响的聚类特征，考察了蚕豆代间分化的趋向。实验结果表明，重金属复合污染对蚕豆的毒害作用，不仅同元素的种类和各自的浓度     

ELISA of polyclonal antibody to fish MT and study on heavy metal tolerance in fish

ＥＬＩＳＡｏｆｐｏｌｙｃｌｏｎａｌａｎｔｉｂｏｄｙｔｏｆｉｓｈＭＴａｎｄｓｔｕｄｙｏｎｈｅａｖｙｍｅｔａｌｔｏｌｅｒａｎｃｅｉｎｆｉｓｈＷａｎｇＹｉｎｇｙａｎ（ＮａｔｉｏｎＥｎｇｉｎｅｅｒｉｎｇＲｅｓｅａｒｃｈＣｅｎｔｅｒｆｏｒＵｒｂａｎＥｎｖｉｒｏ...     

外秦淮河生态护坡挺水植物适应性试验研究

针对外秦淮河的污染状况，采用挺水植物菖蒲和狭叶香蒲进行试验，对外秦淮河的污染水质进行净化；同时进行两种挺水植物在外秦淮河当前水质下的耐淹没性试验。通过试验研究得出，在深秋季节，虽然菖蒲和狭叶香蒲两种植物已经处于生长周期的最后阶段，但是对外秦淮河污染水质仍然有较好的净化效果，对TP、TN、氨氮等的去除率能达到80％以上，对CODMn的去除率偏低。而且通过净化和耐淹试验中两种植物的对比．菖蒲比狭叶香蒲更能适应外秦淮河的水质状况。