title: Concentration-dependent effect of photoluminescent carbon dots on the microbial activity of the soil studied by combination methods.
abstract: Carbon dots (Cdots) have a great potential for their widespread biological applications. However, there are a few studies on the biosafety of Cdots. In this work, the biological effect of Cdots on soil microorganism was analyzed by microcalorimetry, soil enzymatic activities, and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). The addition of Cdots causes a gradual increase of the maximum heat power (P peak) and the growth rate (k) at low concentration of Cdots (0.0-50.00 μg/g). But there is no significant effect of Cdots on the total heat output (Q total). The urease and fluorescein diacetate esterase activities demonstrate that introduction of Cdots to soil has almost no impact on the structure and function of the soil microbial community and microbial processes. The DGGE results exhibit that the control and the Cdots-treated soils display similar patterns, indicating that Cdots have little effect on the microbial community structure.
authors.affiliation: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and National International Cooperation Based on Environment and Energy, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: Wenjuan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and National International Cooperation Based on Environment and Energy, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China; Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology of Chinese Ministry of Education, and Sino-Hungarian Joint Laboratory of Environmental Science and Health, China University of Geoscience, Wuhan 430074, China. Electronic address: yaojun@ustb.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and National International Cooperation Based on Environment and Energy, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: Hankuai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chai
authors.affiliation: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and National International Cooperation Based on Environment and Energy, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: Zhibo
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and National International Cooperation Based on Environment and Energy, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: Chi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, and National International Cooperation Based on Environment and Energy, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100083, China.
authors.forename: Jingnan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: Partner State Key Laboratory of Environmental and Biological Analysis, and Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, 224 Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China. Electronic address: mfchoi@hkbu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Martin M F
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Choi
mesh_terms: D002151:Calorimetry; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D058645:Denaturing Gradient Gel Electrophoresis; D004950:Esterases / Q000378:metabolism; D006358:Hot Temperature; D049449:Luminescence; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D014510:Urease / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D002244:Carbon; D004950:Esterases; D014510:Urease
keywords: Biological effect; Carbon dots; Microbial activity