Bacterial responses to Cu-doped TiO(2) nanoparticles.

The toxicity of Cu-doped TiO(2) nanoparticles (NPs, 20nm), synthesized by a flame aerosol reactor, to Mycobacterium smegmatis and Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, is the primary focus of this study. Both doped and non-doped TiO(2) NPs (20nm) tended to agglomerate in the medium solution, and therefore did not penetrate into the cell and damage cellular structures. TiO(2) particles (<100mg/L) did not apparently interfere with the growth of the two species in aqueous cultures. Cu-doped TiO(2) NPs (20mg/L) significantly reduced the M. smegmatis growth rate by three fold, but did not affect S. oneidensis MR-1 growth. The toxicity of Cu-doped TiO(2) NPs was driven by the release of Cu(2+) from the parent NPs. Compared to equivalent amounts of Cu(2+), Cu-doped TiO(2) NPs exhibited higher levels of toxicity to M. smegmatis (P-value<0.1). Addition of EDTA in the culture appeared to significantly decrease the anti-mycobacterium activity of Cu-doped TiO(2) NPs. S. oneidensis MR-1 produced a large amount of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) under NP stress, especially extracellular protein. Therefore, S. oneidensis MR-1 was able to tolerate a much higher concentration of Cu(2+) or Cu-doped TiO(2) NPs. S. oneidensis MR-1 also adsorbed NPs on cell surface and enzymatically reduced ionic copper in culture medium with a remediating rate of 61microg/(liter x OD(600) x hour) during its early exponential growth phase. Since the metal reducing Shewanella species can efficiently "clean" metal-oxide NPs, the activities of such environmentally relevant bacteria may be an important consideration for evaluating the ecological risk of metal-oxide NPs.