New insights of the bacterial response to exposure of differently sized silver nanomaterials

The release of silver nanomaterials (AgNMs) from extensive use poses potential risks to human health and ecological environments. Although previous studies have reported the negative effects of AgNMs on various microorganisms, little is known about the response of bacteria under the exposure of AgNMs at the cellular level. Here, we report the multiple responses of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 (PAO1) under the exposure of two types of AgNMs, including spherical silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and fibrous silver nanorods (AgNRs), by physiological experiments, microscopy, synchrotron-based X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS), flow cytometry and genome-wide RNA sequencing. Our results demonstrated that the exposure to both types of AgNMs could inhibit the growth of PAO1, accompanied by the overproduction of oxidative stress and inducing cell membrane damage. Transmission electron microscopy revealed the roughened cell membrane under both AgNMs treatment. In addition, both AgNMs repressed the expression of quorum sensing and metal efflux-related genes in PAO1, but stimulated denitrification, glycerol and amino acid metabolisms, SOS response and pyocin overproduction of PAO1. Compared to AgNRs, AgNPs exposure showed a much lower threshold concentration to trigger the inhibitory effect and induced greater transcriptional responses of PAO1. This study suggested that AgNMs could cause multiple effects on the proliferation, metabolism, virulence and pathogenesis of PAO1, which might further affect the corresponding environmental microbial communities. Overall, our findings offer insights into the interactions between AgNMs and bacteria at the molecular level.