Heavy metal concentration of soil samples from Mn-mine tailing and non-polluted reference.

<p>Heavy metal concentration of soil samples from Mn-mine tailing and non-polluted reference.</p

Non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination of soil propagule banks of ectomycorrhizal fungi in Mn mine soil and non-polluted soil and other three propagule banks (TLTs, DXTs, DXCs).

<p>Non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination of soil propagule banks of ectomycorrhizal fungi in Mn mine soil and non-polluted soil and other three propagule banks (TLTs, DXTs, DXCs).</p

Heavy metal concentrations of <i>Pinus massoniana</i> seedling grown in the Mn-mine tailing and non-polluted soils.

<p>Heavy metal concentrations of <i>Pinus massoniana</i> seedling grown in the Mn-mine tailing and non-polluted soils.</p

ECM fungal diversity indices for the Mn mine and non-polluted soil.

<p>ECM fungal diversity indices for the Mn mine and non-polluted soil.</p

Accumulation curves for the richness of ECM fungal propagules baited by <i>Pinus massoniana</i> seedlings in the forest soils from a Mn mine wasteland in Xiangtan (Mn) and non-disturbed Masson pine forest in Linxiang city (Mn-ref), Pb-Zn tailing in Linxiang city (TLTs), Cu tailing in Dexing city (DXTs) and a non- disturbed Masson pine forest in Dexing city (DXCs) of China.

<p>Accumulation curves for the richness of ECM fungal propagules baited by <i>Pinus massoniana</i> seedlings in the forest soils from a Mn mine wasteland in Xiangtan (Mn) and non-disturbed Masson pine forest in Linxiang city (Mn-ref), Pb-Zn tailing in Linxiang city (TLTs), Cu tailing in Dexing city (DXTs) and a non- disturbed Masson pine forest in Dexing city (DXCs) of China.</p

Data_Sheet_1_Structural and functional characteristics of soil microbial communities in response to different ecological risk levels of heavy metals.docx

ObjectiveThe potential ecological risk index (RI) is the most commonly used method to assess heavy metals (HMs) contamination in soils. However, studies have focused on the response of soil microorganisms to different concentrations, whereas little is known about the responses of the microbial community structures and functions to HMs at different RI levels.MethodsHere, we conducted soil microcosms with low (L), medium (M) and high (H) RI levels, depending on the Pb and Cd concentrations, were conducted. The original soil was used as the control (CK). High-throughput sequencing, qPCR, and Biolog plate approaches were applied to investigate the microbial community structures, abundance, diversity, metabolic capacity, functional genes, and community assembly processes.ResultThe abundance and alpha diversity indices for the bacteria at different RI levels were significantly lower than those of the CK. Meanwhile, the abundance and ACE index for the fungi increased significantly with RI levels. Acidobacteria, Basidiomycota and Planctomycetes were enriched as the RI level increased. Keystone taxa and co-occurrence pattern analysis showed that rare taxa play a vital role in the stability and function of the microbial community at different RI levels. Network analysis indicates that not only did the complexity and vulnerability of microbial community decrease as risk levels increased, but that the lowest number of keystone taxa was found at the H level. However, the microbial community showed enhanced intraspecific cooperation to adapt to the HMs stress. The Biolog plate data suggested that the average well color development (AWCD) reduced significantly with RI levels in bacteria, whereas the fungal AWCD was dramatically reduced only at the H level. The functional diversity indices and gene abundance for the microorganisms at the H level were significantly lower than those the CK. In addition, microbial community assembly tended to be more stochastic with an increase in RI levels.ConclusionOur results provide new insight into the ecological impacts of HMs on the soil microbiome at different risk levels, and will aid in future risk assessments for Pb and Cd contamination.</p

Fluorine-Doped Cationic Carbon Dots for Efficient Gene Delivery

Carbon dots (CDs) focus great attention in a broad range of adhibitions because of their excellent optical properties and high biocompatibility and property adjustability. However, the developed CDs have rarely been used as effective gene vectors until now. In this work, we devised and synthesized novel fluorine-doped cationic CDs (FCDs) using tetrafluoroterephthalic acid as a fluorine source and using branched polyethylenimine to furnish positive charge sites. The FCDs achieve dramatic positive EGFP and luciferase gene transfection efficiency as well as low cytotoxicity in commonly used cell lines at a low weight ratio, even in primary and stem cells. It is worth pointing out that the FCDs possess superior efficiency and biocompatibility, compared to some widely used commercial reagents such as 25 kDa polyethylenimine and Lipofectamine 2000. In addition, the FCDs show excellent efficient transfection even at high serum concentration and low DNA dose, indicating potential practical applications

Effects of Different Regeneration Scenarios and Fertilizer Treatments on Soil Microbial Ecology in Reclaimed Opencast Mining Areas on the Loess Plateau, China

<div><p>The soil microbial community in reclaimed mining areas is fundamental to vegetative establishment. However, how this community responds to different regeneration scenarios and fertilizer treatments is poorly understood. This research evaluated plant and soil microbial communities from different regeneration scenarios and different fertilizer treatments. Regeneration scenarios significantly influenced soil bacterial, archaeal, and fungal rDNA abundance. The ratios of fungi to bacteria or archaea were increased with fertilizer application. The diversity of both plants and microbes was lowest in <i>Lotus corniculatus</i> grasslands. Regeneration scenario, fertilizer treatment, and their interaction influenced soil microbial richness, diversity and evenness indices. Labile carbon pool 2 was a significant factor affected plant and microbe communities in July, suggesting that plants and microbes may be competing for nutrients. The higher ratios of positive to negative association were found in soil bacteria and total microbe than in archaea and fungi. Stronger clustering of microbial communities from the same regeneration scenario indicated that the vegetative composition of regeneration site may have a greater influence on soil microbial communities than fertilizer treatment.</p></div

Large Emission Red-Shift of Carbon Dots by Fluorine Doping and Their Applications for Red Cell Imaging and Sensitive Intracellular Ag⁺ Detection

Heteroatom doping is one of the most effective routes to adjust the physicochemical and optical properties of carbon dots (CDs). However, fluorine (F) doped CDs have been barely achieved. In this work, a F-doping strategy was proposed and adopted to modulate optical properties of CDs. A kind of F-doped CDs was synthesized by a solvothermal process using aromatic F bearing moiety as the F source and shows much longer maximum emissions (up to 600 nm, red fluorescence) than that of undoped CDs, indicating a large emission red-shift effect by F-doping. In addition, the F-doped CDs have remarkable water-solubility, high biocompatibility, as well as excellent stability even under broad pH range, ionic strengths, and light illumination and thus can be used as a novel probe for the highly efficient cell imaging of various normal cells and cancer cells. The F-doped CDs can selectively bind to Ag⁺. It therefore makes the F-doped CDs be a highly sensitive probe for the detection of Ag⁺ under both aqueous solution and various biological systems. The huge potential of this F-doping strategy is indicated in the rational design of high-performance CDs, as well as in applications of clinical diagnosis and ion detection

Abundance of soil bacteria, archaea, and fungi rRNA genes in the reclaimed mining area.

<p>Points show the means of three replicates, and vertical bars show standard deviations. Treatments with the same lower case letters are not significantly different from one another for the same regeneration scenario (P>0.05). Treatments with the same capital letters are not significantly different from one another for the same fertilizer treatment (P>0.05). CO, SA, TA, and MF represent <i>Lotus corniculatus, Medicago sativa, Pinus tabulaeformis,</i> and <i>Salix matsudana</i>–<i>Sabina chinensis</i> mixed forest. CK, IN, IO, and OR represent no fertilizer, inorganic, organic, and a combination of inorganic and organic fertilizer added to soils.</p