Metabolomics reveals that engineered nanomaterial exposure in soil alters both soil rhizosphere metabolite profiles and maize metabolic pathways

Accurate risk assessment of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in the environment is important for sustainable development and application of nanotechnology. Soil metabolomics, which reflects the integrated response of both plant and microbial communities to ENM exposure, has not been used extensively....

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Published inEnvironmental science. Nano Vol. 6; no. 6; pp. 1716 - 1727
Main Authors Zhao, Lijuan, Zhang, Huiling, White, Jason C, Chen, Xiaoqiang, Li, Hongbo, Qu, Xiaolei, Ji, Rong
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 13.06.2019
Subjects
Abundance
Amino acids
Biological activity
Carbohydrates
Carbon content
Corn
Exposure
Hydroxycinnamic acid
Inositol
Iron oxides
Leaves
Levoglucosan
Linolenic acid
Metabolic pathways
Metabolic response
Metabolism
Metabolites
Metabolomics
Microbial activity
Microorganisms
Nanomaterials
Nanotechnology
Organic carbon
Organic chemistry
Plant communities
Plant growth
Plant metabolism
Plant tissues
Profiles
Rhizosphere
Risk assessment
Roots
Silica
Silicon dioxide
Soil
Soil chemistry
Soil investigations
Soil profiles
Sustainable development
Tables
Tissue
Titanium dioxide
Total organic carbon
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Summary:Accurate risk assessment of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in the environment is important for sustainable development and application of nanotechnology. Soil metabolomics, which reflects the integrated response of both plant and microbial communities to ENM exposure, has not been used extensively. Moreover, since microbe- and plant-released metabolites contribute to the formation and accumulation of soil organic carbon (SOC), soil metabolite profile alteration from impacted plant and microbial activity may change SOC pool enrichment. Here, maize plants were grown in soil amended with SiO 2 , TiO 2 , or Fe 3 O 4 ENMs (100 mg kg −1 soil) for four weeks. Plant and soil metabolomics were then used to investigate the global metabolic response of both the plant and soil to ENM exposure. None of the tested ENMs showed negative impacts on plant growth. However, metabolomics analysis revealed that all ENM treatments altered the leaf, root and soil metabolite profiles in an ENM-dependent manner. Fe 3 O 4 and TiO 2 ENM exposure induced stronger metabolic reprogramming in leaves, roots and soil compared to SiO 2 ENMs. Interestingly, leaf tissues, which is not the organ directly exposed to ENMs, showed significant amino acid pool alteration upon exposure to ENMs. In soil, levoglucosan, linolenic acid, 4-hydroxycinnamic acid and allo-inositol were significantly increased in response to ENMs. Alteration of the soil metabolite profile indicates that ENMs changed the SOC pool. Integration of leaf, root and soil metabolomics enables a thorough characterization of plant metabolism and soil chemistry that can be a powerful tool for ENM risk assessment. Soil metabolomics enabled a single frame snapshot of plant rhizosphere and soil chemical composition changes upon exposure to engineered nanomaterials.
Bibliography:Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Characteristics of ENMs (Table S1); significantly changed metabolites in maize tissues and soil exposure to different NPs (Table S2); perturbed biological pathways in leaf and root tissues (Tables S3 and S4); TEM images of SiO
2
3
4
NPs (Fig. S1); the relative abundance of four nitrogen-containing compounds (Fig. S2); significantly changed carbohydrates in maize leaves in response to ENMs (Fig. S3); significantly changed metabolites in maize root by ENMs (Fig. S4); metabolites in maize roots that only respond to Fe
10.1039/c9en00137a
and Fe
O
ENMs (Fig. S5); total organic carbon content (Fig. S6). See DOI
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ISSN:2051-8153
2051-8161
DOI:10.1039/c9en00137a