Understanding the toxicity of nanoparticles on wastewater microbiota, specifically ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB), is critical due to the exponential increase in commercialization of nanoparticles as well as the sensitivity of AOB to inhibitors.  A high-throughput activity assay was developed to rapidly screen for nanoparticle toxicity, using a multi-well plate method and the AOB Nitrosomonas europaea. This method demonstrated good agreement with previously established batch bottle assays utilizing both silver ions (Ag+) and nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) as nitrification inhibitors.  This method compared the sensitivity of N. europaea cells grown in fill-and-draw reactors versus exponentially grown batch cells to either Ag+ or 20 nm phosphate Ag-NP exposure. Results indicate that cells with slower growth rates (i.e. longer hydraulic residence times) were less sensitive than cells with faster growth rates, as determined by their 3 hour nitrite production rates.  Consistent with past observations, N. europaea was more sensitive to Ag+ than Ag-NP.

Development of a high-throughput assay for testing nanoparticle toxicity using the ammonia oxidizing bacteria <i>Nitrosomonas europaea</i>

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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Development of a high-throughput assay for testing nanoparticle toxicity using the ammonia oxidizing bacteria Nitrosomonas europaea