Toxicity of VO2 micro/nanoparticles to nitrogen-fixing bacterium Azotobacter vinelandii

Vanadium dioxide (VO2) has been used in a variety of products due to its outstanding phase transition properties. However, as potential heavy metal contaminants, the environmental hazards and risks of VO2 should be systematically investigated. Biological nitrogen fixation is one of the most dominant processes in biogeochemical cycle, which is associated with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. In this study, we reported the environmental bio-effects of VO2 micro/nanoparticles on the nitrogen-fixing bacterium Azotobacter vinelandii. VO2 at 10 and 30 mg/L caused severe hazards to A. vinelandii, such as cell apoptosis, oxidative damage, physical damage, genotoxicity, and the loss of nitrogen fixation activity. The up-regulated differentially expressed genes of A. vinelandii were related to stress response, and the down-regulated genes were mainly related to energy metabolism. Surprisingly, VO2 of 10 mg/L decreased the nif gene expression but elevated the vnf gene expression, which enhanced the ability of A. vinelandii to reduce acetylene in anaerobic environment. In addition, under tested conditions, VO2 nanoparticles exhibited insignificantly higher toxicity than VO2 microparticles. [Display omitted] •Nano-sized VO2 exhibited insignificantly higher toxicity to nitrogen fixing bacteria than micro-sized ones.•VO2 particulates induced apoptosis and oxidative damages to nitrogen fixing bacteria.•VO2 particulates elevated the transcription of multiple stress proteins in nitrogen fixing bacteria.•VO2 particulates decreased the nif gene expression, but elevated the vnf gene expression.