Temporal changes of microbial community structure and nitrogen cycling processes during the aerobic degradation of phenanthrene. (January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yi, Meiling; Zhang, Lilan; Qin, Cunli; Lu, Peili; Bai, Hongcheng; Han, Xinkuan; Yuan, Shupei
• Is Part Of: Chemosphere. Volume 286:Part 2(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-01
• Subjects: Soil -- Phenanthrene -- Bacterial community -- Co-occurrence network -- Nitrogen cycling; Pollution -- Periodicals; Pollution -- Physiological effect -- Periodicals; Environmental sciences -- Periodicals; Atmospheric chemistry -- Periodicals; 551.511
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.131709
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0045-6535

Abstract

Abstract: Phenanthrene (PHE) is frequently detected in worldwide soils. But it is still not clear that how the microbial community succession happens and the nitrogen-cycling processes alter during PHE degradation. In this study, the temporal changes of soil microbial community composition and nitrogen-cycling processes during the biodegradation of PHE (12 μg g −1 ) were explored. The results showed that the biodegradation of PHE followed the second-order kinetics with a half-life of 7 days. QPCR results demonstrated that the bacteria numbers increased by 67.1%–194.7% with PHE degradation, whereas, no significant change was observed in fungi numbers. Thus, high-throughput sequencing based on 16 S rRNA was conducted and showed that the abundances of Methylotenera, Comamonadaceae, and Nocardioides involved in PHE degradation and denitrification were significantly increased, while those of nitrogen-metabolism-related genera such as Nitrososphaeraceae, Nitrospira, Gemmatimonadacea were decreased in PHE-treated soil. Co-occurrence network analysis suggested that more complex interrelations were constructed, and Proteobacteria instead of Acidobacteriota formed intimate associations with other microbes in responding to PHE exposure. Additionally, the abundances of nif H and nar G were significantly up-regulated in PHE-treated soil, while that of amo A especially AOA amo A was down-regulated. Finally, correlation analysis found several potential microbes ( Methylotenera, Comamonadaceae, and Agromyces ) that could couple PHE degradation and nitrogen transformation. This study confirmed that PHE could alter microbial community structure, change the native bacterial network, and disturb nitrogen-cycling processes. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: PHE biodegradation followed the second-order kinetics with a half-life of 7 days. PHE significantly affected the succession of microbial community. The effect of PHE on microbial network was firstly revealed. More complex soil microbial network was constructed and the core taxa changed. Ammonia oxidation was inhibited, nitrogen fixation and denitrification were promoted.