Functional gene expressions of continuously cultured Nitrosomonas europae after ZnO nanoparticles exposure and recovery incubation

To further explore the biotoxicity mechanisms of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) and the recovery strategies of the accordingly impaired Nitrosomonas europaea (N. europaea, ATCC 19718) cells, a genome-sequenced model ammonia-oxidizing bacterium (AOB) commonly detected in the activated sludge of biological wastewater treatment plants, whole-genome microarray analysis was applied to retrieve the induced transcriptional responses, after their physiological and metabolic activities were revealed. The whole-genome expressions were measured after exposure to 50 ppm ZnO NPs and 12-hrs recovery incubation when the ammonia removal rate (ARA) declined by 10% in the chemostat bioreactor. Three independent experiments were performed for each experiment.