Ionic liquids (ILs) are extensively used in various fields, posing a potential threat in the ecosystem because of their high stability, excellent solubility, and biological toxicity. In this study, the toxicity mechanism of three ILs, 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([C₈MIM]Cl), 1-decyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([C₁₀MIM]Cl), and 1-dodecyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([C₁₂MIM]Cl) on Arabidopsis thaliana were revealed. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) level increased with higher concentration and longer carbon chain length of ILs, which led to the increase of malondialdehyde (MDA) content and antioxidase activity, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and peroxidase (POD) activities. SOD, CAT, and GPX activities decreased in high ILs concentration due to the excessive ROS. Differentially expressed protein was analyzed based on Gene ontology (GO) and KEGG pathways analysis. 70, 45, 84 up-regulated proteins, and 72, 104, 79 down-regulated proteins were identified in [C₈MIM]Cl, [C₁₀MIM]Cl, and [C₁₂MIM]Cl treatment, respectively (fold change ≥ 1.5 with ≥95% confidence). Cellular aldehyde metabolic process, mitochondrial and mitochondrial respiratory chains, glutathione transferase and oxidoreductase activity were enriched as up-regulated proteins as the defense mechanism of A. thaliana to resist external stresses. Chloroplast, photosynthetic membrane and thylakoid, structural constituent of ribosome, and transmembrane transport were enriched as the down-regulated protein. Compared with the control, 8 and 14 KEGG pathways were identified forup-regulated and down-regulated proteins, respectively, in three IL treatments. Metabolic pathways, carbon metabolism, biosynthesis of amino acids, porphyrin and chlorophyll metabolism were significantly down-regulated. The GO terms annotation demonstrated the oxidative stress response and effects on photosynthesis of A. thaliana in ILs treatment from biological process, cellular component, and molecular function categories.

Acidification in variable charge soils is on the rise due to increased acid deposition and use of nitrogenous fertilizers. The associated low pH and cation exchange capacity make the soils prone to depleted base cations and increased levels of Al³⁺. Consequently, Al toxicity to plants and soil infertility decrease crop yield. This study was designed to investigate the effect of Pseudomonas fluorescens on the acidification of two Ultisols. The simulated acidification experiment demonstrated that the pH of bacteria-treated soil was higher than that of control under similar conditions, suggesting that the adhered bacteria inhibited soil acidification. This observation was attributed to the association of organic anions (RCOO⁻ or RO⁻) on bacteria with H⁺ to form neutral molecules (RCOOH or ROH) and reducing the activity of H⁺ in solution. The bacteria also inhibited the increase in soil soluble Al and exchangeable Al during soil acidification. The adhesion of bacteria on the soils increased soil effective cation exchange capacity (ECEC) and exchangeable base cations at each pH compared to control. The release of exchangeable base cations from bacteria-treated soil, and the decrease in soil ECEC and exchangeable base cations with decreasing pH confirmed that protonation of organic anions on adhered bacteria was mainly responsible for the inhibition of soil acidification. The change of zeta potential of the bacteria with pH and the ART-FTIR analysis at various pH provided more evidence for this mechanism. Therefore, the bacteria in variable charge soils played an important role in retarding soil acidification.

Surface waters could be a dominant route by which antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are disseminated. In the present study we explored the prevalence and abundance of ARGs [blaCTX₋M₋₁, erm(B), sul1, tet(B), tet(M), and tet(X)], class 1 integron-integrase gene (intI1), and IncP-1 and IncQ-1 plasmids in eight irrigation return flows (IRFs) and a background site (Main Line Canal, MLC) in the Upper Snake Rock watershed in southern Idaho. Grab samples were collected on a monthly basis for a calendar year, which were processed to extract microbial DNA, followed by droplet digital PCR to quantify the gene copies on an absolute (per 100 mL) and relative (per 16S rRNA gene copies) basis. The antibiotic resistance and intI1 genes and IncP-1/IncQ-1 plasmids were recovered at all IRF sampling sites with detections ranging from 55 to 81 out of 81 water sampling events. The blaCTX₋M₋₁ gene was detected the least frequently (68%), while the other genes were detected more frequently (88–100%). All of the genes were also detected at MLC from April to Oct when water was present in the canal. The genes from lowest to greatest relative abundance in the IRFs were: blaCTX₋M₋₁ < erm(B) < tet(B) < IncQ-1 < tet(M) < sul1 < intI1 = IncP-1 < tet(X). When compared to the average annual relative gene abundances in MLC water samples, they were found to be at statistically greater levels (P ≤ 0.008) except that of the IncP-1 and IncQ-1 plasmids (P = 0.8 and 0.08, respectively). The fact that most IRFs contained higher levels than found in the canal water, indicates that IRFs can be a point source of ARGs that ultimately discharge into surface waters.

Isoprene, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde are important reactive organic compounds which strongly impact atmospheric oxidation processes and formation of tropospheric ozone. Monsoon meteorology and the topography of Himalayan foothills cause surface emissions to get rapidly transported both horizontally and vertically, thereby influencing atmospheric processes in distant regions. Further in monsoon, Indo-Gangetic Plain is a major rice growing region of the world and daytime hourly ozone can frequently exceed phytotoxic dose of 40 ppb O₃. However, the sources and ambient variability of these compounds which are potent ozone precursors are unknown. Here, we investigate the sources and photochemical processes driving their emission/formation during monsoon season from a sub-urban site at the foothills of the Himalayas. The measurements were performed in July, August and September using a high sensitivity mass spectrometer. Average ambient mixing ratios (±1σ variability) of isoprene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, and the sum of methyl vinyl ketone and methacrolein (MVK+MACR), were 1.4 ± 0.3 ppb, 5.7 ± 0.9 ppb, 4.5 ± 2.0 ppb, 0.75 ± 0.3 ppb, respectively, and much higher than summertime values in May. For isoprene these values were comparable to mixing ratios observed over tropical forests. Surprisingly, despite occurrence of anthropogenic emissions, biogenic emissions were found to be the major source of isoprene with peak daytime isoprene driven by temperature (r ≥ 0.8) and solar radiation. Photo-oxidation of precursor hydrocarbons were the main sources of acetaldehyde, formaldehyde and MVK+MACR. Ambient mixing ratios of all the compounds correlated poorly with acetonitrile (r ≤ 0.2), a chemical tracer for biomass burning suggesting negligible influence of biomass burning during monsoon season. Our results suggest that during monsoon season when radiation and rain are no longer limiting factors and convective activity causes surface emissions to be transported to upper atmosphere, biogenic emissions can significantly impact the remote upper atmosphere, climate and ozone affecting rice yields.

Due to the abusive usage of antibiotics in animal husbandry, a large amount of residual antibiotics has been released into the environment, therein posing great threat against both environment security and public health. Therefore, it is of great significance to investigate the toxicity of antibiotics on the widely-applied bioindicator-earthworm. In this work, the physiological parameters and the intestinal bacteria community of Metaphire guillelmi were monitored simultaneously to evaluate their sensitivity to the tetracycline (TC) exposure. As expected, the antioxidant enzyme activity and coelomocyte apoptosis acted fairly well as biomarkers for the TC toxicity. In contrast, the intestinal bacteria of Metaphire guillelmi responded varyingly to different TC doses. When TC concentration increased from 0 to 35.7 μg cm⁻², the percentage of the Proteobacteria phylum declined significantly from 85.5% to 34.4%, while the proportions of the Firmicutes, Planctomycetes and Atinomycete phyla clearly increased (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, the levels of TC resistance genes tetA, tetC, and tetW increased with the increasing TC concentration, in contrast to the declined abundance in denitrifying genes nirS and nosZ (p < 0.05). By analyzing the correlation between the antioxidant enzyme activity and the dominant intestinal bacteria in the worm gut, it is interesting to found that the four dominant bacteria genera Mesorhizobium, Aliihoeflea, Romboutsia, and Nitrospira are the promising bioindicator of TC stress due to their sensitive response. This work shed novel light on evaluating the ecotoxicological risks posed by residual TC in environment by using a combination of physiological parameters and intestinal bacterial activity in earthworms.

Plant-specific root-microbe-soil interactions play an indisputable role in microbial adaptation to environmental stresses. However, the assembly of plant rhizosphere microbiomes and their feedbacks in modification of pollution alleviation under organochlorine stress condition is far less clear. This study examined the response of root-associated bacterial microbiomes to lindane pollution and compared the dissipation of lindane in maize-cultivated dry soils and rice-cultivated flooded soils. Results showed that lindane pollution dramatically altered the microbial structure in the rhizosphere soil of maize but had less influence on the microbial composition in flooded treatments regardless of rice growth, when the reductive dechlorination of lindane was actively coupled with natural redox processes under anaerobic conditions. After 30 days of plant growth, lindane residues dissipated much faster in anaerobic than in aerobic environments, with only 1.08 mg kg⁻¹ lindane remaining in flooded control compared to 12.79 mg kg⁻¹ in dry control soils. Compared to the corresponding unplanted control, maize growth significantly increased, but rice growth slightly decreased the dissipation of lindane. Our study suggests that opposite impacts would lead to the self-purification of polluted soils during the growth of xerophytic maize and hygrocolous rice. This was attributed to the contrasting belowground micro-ecological processes regarding protection of root tissues and thereby assembly of rhizosphere microbiomes shaped by the xerophytic and hygrocolous crops under different water managements, in response to lindane pollution.

Common solvents are frequently used as carriers to dissolve chemicals with a hydrophobic property that is extensively applied in the industrial and biomedical fields. In this study, we aimed to systematically study the sub-chronic effect of ten common solvents at low concentration exposure in adult zebrafish and perform neurobehavioral assessments for mechanistic exploration. After exposed to ten common solvents, including methanol, ethanol (EtOH), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), isopropanol, acetone, polyethylene glycol-400 (PEG-400), glycerol, butanol, pentane, and tetrahydrofuran for continuous 10 day at 0.1% concentration level, adult zebrafish were subjected to perform a serial of behavioral tests, such as novel tank, mirror biting, predator avoidance, social interaction and shoaling. Later, 20 behavioral endpoints obtained from these five tests were transformed into a scoring matrix. Principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchy clustering were performed to evaluate and compare the zebrafish behavior profiling. By using this phenomic approach, we were able to systematically evaluate the toxicity of the common solvents in zebrafish at a neurobehavioral level for the first time and found each common solvent-induced unique behavioral alteration to produce fingerprint-like patterns in hierarchy clustering and heatmap analysis. Among all tested common solvents, acetone and PEG-400 displayed better biocompatibility and less toxicity since they triggered less behavioral and biochemical alterations while methanol and DMSO caused severe behavior alterations in zebrafish after chronic exposure of these solvents. We conclude the behavioral phenomic approach conducted in this study providing a powerful tool to a systematical exploration of the common solvent toxicity at the whole organism level.

Silver (Ag) is released from a range of products and accumulates in agricultural soils as silver sulfide (Ag₂S) through the application of Ag-containing biosolids as a soil amendment. Although Ag₂S is comparatively stable, its solubility increases with salinity, potentially altering its impacts on microbial communities due to the anti-microbial properties of Ag. In this study, we investigated the impacts of Ag on the microbially mediated N cycle in saline soils by examining the relationship between the (bio)availability of Ag₂S and microbial functioning following the application of Ag₂S-containing sludge. Synchrotron-based X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) revealed that the Ag₂S was stable within the soil, although extractable Ag concentrations increased up to 18-fold in soils with higher salinity. However, the extractable Ag accounted for <0.05% of the total Ag in all soils and had no impact on plant biomass or soil bacterial biomass. Interestingly, at high soil salinity, Ag₂S significantly increased cumulative N₂O emissions from 80.9 to 229.2 mg kg⁻¹ dry soil (by 180%) compared to the corresponding control sludge treatment, which was ascribed to the increased abundance of nitrification and denitrification-related genes (amoA, nxrB, narG, napA, nirS, and nosZ) and increased relative abundance of denitrifiers (Rhodanobacter, Salinimicrobium, and Zunongwangia). Together, our findings show that the application of Ag₂S-containing sludge to a saline soil can disrupt the N cycle and increase N₂O emissions from agroecosystems.

Antibiotics are the most consumed therapeutic classes worldwide and are released to the environment in their original form as well as potentially active metabolites and/or degradation products. Consequences of the occurrence of these compounds in the environment are primarily related to bacterial resistance development.This work presents a validated analytical method based on solid phase extraction (SPE) using HLB cartridges, followed by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for quantification of seven different fluoroquinolone antibiotics, namely ciprofloxacin (CPF), enrofloxacin (ENR), lomefloxacin (LOM), norfloxacin (NOR), ofloxacin (OFL), prulifloxacin (PLF) and moxifloxacin (MOX) and its application to detect the target compounds in influents and effluents of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). Linearity was established through calibration curves in solvent and matrix match using internal calibration method in the range of 50–1300 ng L⁻¹ and all the fluoroquinolones showed good linear fit (r² ≥ 0.991). Accuracy ranged between 80.3 and 92.9%, precision was comprised between 7.2 and 14.6%, and 10.7 and 18.1% for intra- and inter-batch determinations, respectively. Method detection and quantification limits ranged from 6.7 to 59.0 ng L⁻¹ and 22.3–196.6 ng L⁻¹, respectively.Influents and effluents of fifteen WWTPs of North of Portugal were analyzed. OFL was the fluoroquinolone found at the highest concentration, up to 4587.0 ng L⁻¹ and 987.9 ng L⁻¹, in influent and effluent, respectively. NOR and PLF were not detected.

Interactions between aromatic pollutants (APs) and porphyrin nucleus as physiological receptors have a significant effect on biological functions of porphyrin-based systems in organism. However, the details on the interaction at molecule level are still elusive. Herein, interaction mechanisms between two typical APs (methylene blue, MB and benzo[a]pyrene, B[a]P) and meso-tetra (4-carboxyphenyl) porphine (TCPP) as physiological receptors were systematically investigated. Adsorption behaviors of TCPP to B[a]P was dominated by pi-pi interaction, while interaction between TCPP and MB coupled with a multi-force field including hydrophobic, pi-pi, electrostatic, and H-bonding interactions. The relative contributions of these four forces obeyed an order: H-bonding > pi-pi > electrostatic > hydrophobic, regardless of the pH value and the initial concentration of MB. H-bonding assisted by hydrogen/hydroxide ion was the most influential force. According to the effect of pH and temperature, organisms exposed to cellular environment with high alkalinity and high temperature might uptake more APs molecules with chemical properties similar to MB and suffered greater health risks. In detail, APs might replace amino acid molecules surrounding porphyrin and change the distortion type of porphyrin molecule, and then affect biological functions of porphyrin and related proteins. This study facilitates a better understanding of potential toxicity of organisms in contaminated environment.