Xiaoyan Tang

Ground-level ozone in the Pearl River Delta and the roles of VOC and NOx in its production

In many regions of China, very rapid economic growth has been accompanied by air pollution caused by vehicle emissions. In one of these regions, the Pearl River Delta, the variations of ground-level ozone and its precursors were investigated. Overall, the ambient concentrations of NO(2) increased quickly between 1995 and 1996, but then slightly decreased due to stringent nitrogen oxide (NO(x)) emission controls. Nonetheless, ambient NO(2) levels in the Pearl River Delta remained high. The regional average concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were 290 ppbC in summer and 190 ppbC in autumn. Local emissions and long-distance transportation of pollutants play important roles in the regional distribution of VOCs. Ambient O(3) production is significant in urban areas and also downwind of cities. The relative incremental reactivities (RIRs), determined by an observation-based model, showed that ground-level ozone formation in the Guangzhou urban area is generally limited by the concentrations of VOCs, but there are also measurable impacts of NO(x).

Bioaugmentation and adsorption treatment of coking wastewater containing pyridine and quinoline using zeolite-biological aerated filters.

Bioaugmented zeolite-biological aerated filters (Z-BAFs), i.e. adding isolated degrading bacteria into the BAFs with zeolite as fillings, were designed to treat coking wastewater containing high concentrations of pyridine and quinoline and to explore the bacterial community of biofilm on the zeolite surface. The investigation was carried out for 91 days of column operation and the treatment of pyridine, quinoline, total organic carbon (TOC), and ammonium was shown to be highly efficient by bioaugmentation and adsorption. Biomass determination and bacterial diversity detection based on 16S rDNA and rRNA techniques supported the treatment data and indicated that bioaugmentation could recover the bacterial richness and diversity from pyridine and quinoline loading shocks. However, bioaugmentation accelerated the shift of the bacterial community structure resulting in a more distinct difference from the starting community. Clone library analysis revealed that pyridine and quinoline were more harmful to Bacterodietes among all ingenious bacteria, and bioaugmentation promoted the growth of Planctomycetes in the biofilm. Moreover, the introduced bacteria did not remain dominant in the bioaugmented biofilm, indicating the indigenous degrading bacteria played the most significant role in the treatment. This bioaugmented Z-BAF method was shown to be an alternative technology for the treatment of wastewater containing pyridine and quinoline or other N-heterocyclic aromatic compounds.

Bacterial communities in the sediments of Dianchi Lake, a partitioned eutrophic waterbody in China.

Bacteria play an important role in the decomposition and cycling of a variety of compounds in freshwater aquatic environments, particularly nutrient-rich eutrophic lakes. A unique Chinese eutrophic lake - Dianchi - was selected for study because it has two separate and distinct basins, Caohai with higher organic carbon levels and Waihai with lower organic carbon levels. Sediment bacterial communities were studied in the two basins using samples collected in each season from June 2010 to March 2011. Barcoded pyrosequencing based on the 16 S rRNA gene found that certain common phyla, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Chloroflexi, were dominant in the sediments from both basins. However, from the class to genus level, the dominant bacterial groups found in the sediments were distinct between the two basins. Correlation analysis revealed that, among the environmental parameters examined, total organic carbon (TOC) accounted for the greatest proportion of variability in bacterial community. Interestingly, study results suggest that increasing allochthonous organic carbon could enhance bacterial diversity and biomass in the sediment. In addition, analysis of function genes (amoA and nosZ) demonstrated that ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) were dominant in sediments, with 99% belonging to Nitrosomonas. Denitrifying bacteria were comparatively diverse and were associated with some cultivatable bacteria.

Aerobic biodegradation characteristics and metabolic products of quinoline by a Pseudomonas strain

A bacterial strain, BW003, which utilized quinoline as its sole C, N and energy source, was isolated and identified as Pseudomonas sp. BW003 degraded 192-911 mg/l quinoline within 3-8 h with removal rates ranging from 96% to 98%. The optimum conditions for the degradation were 30 degrees C and pH 8. In the process of biodegradation, at least 43% of quinoline was transformed into 2-hydroxyquinoline, then 0.69% of 2-hydroxyquinoline was transformed into 2,8-dihydroxyquinoline, and then, presumably, into 8-hydroxycoumarin. Meanwhile, at least 48% of the nitrogen in quinoline was directly transformed into ammonia-N. An extra carbon source enhanced the nitrogen transformation from ammonia-N. Further experiments showed that, besides cell synthesis, BW003 transformed less than 6% of ammonia-N into nitrate through heterotrophic nitrification. In addition, BW003 contained a large plasmid, which may be involved in quinoline metabolism. The study indicates that quinoline and its metabolic products can be eliminated from wastewater by controlling the C/N ratio using BW003 as the bioaugmentation inoculum.

Removal of pyridine and quinoline by bio-zeolite composed of mixed degrading bacteria and modified zeolite.

In the process of the biodegradation of pyridine and quinoline, ammonium is often generated because of the transformation of N from pyridine and quinoline. Zeolite has been proven to be an effective sorbent for the removal of the ammonium. The natural zeolite can be modified to be the macroporous carrier in the biological wastewater treatment process. In this study, a specific bio-zeolite composed of mixed bacteria (a pyridine-degrading bacterium and a quinoline-degrading bacterium) and modified zeolite was used for biodegradation and adsorption in two types of wastewater: sterile synthetic and coking wastewater. The experimental results indicated that pyridine and quinoline could be degraded simultaneously by the mixed bacteria. Furthermore, NH(4)(+)-N transformed from pyridine and quinoline could be removed by the modified zeolite. In addition, the bacterial community structures of the coking wastewater and the bio-zeolite were monitored by the amplicon length heterogeneity polymerase-chain reaction (LH-PCR) technique. Both LH-PCR results and scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations indicated that the microorganisms, including BW001 and BW003, could be easily attached on the surface of the modified zeolite and that the bio-zeolite could be used in the treatment of wastewater containing pyridine and/or quinoline.

Chronic exposure to air pollution particles increases the risk of obesity and metabolic syndrome: findings from a natural experiment in Beijing

Epidemiologic evidence suggests that air pollution is a risk factor for childhood obesity. Limited experimental data have shown that early‐life exposure to ambient particles either increases susceptibility to diet‐induced weight gain in adulthood or increases insulin resistance, adiposity, and inflammation. However, no data have directly supported a link between air pollution and non‐diet‐induced weight increases. In a rodent model, we found that breathing Beijings highly polluted air resulted in weight gain and cardiorespiratory and metabolic dysfunction. Compared to those exposed to filtered air, pregnant rats exposed to unfiltered Beijing air were significantly heavier at the end of pregnancy. At 8 wk old, the offspring prenatally and postnatally exposed to unfiltered air were significantly heavier than those exposed to filtered air. In both rat dams and their offspring, after continuous exposure to unfiltered air we observed pronounced histologic evidence for both perivascular and peribronchial inflammation in the lungs, increased tissue and systemic oxidative stress, dyslipidemia, and an enhanced proinflammatory status of epididymal fat. Results suggest that TLR2/4‐dependent inflammatory activation and lipid oxidation in the lung can spill over systemically, leading to metabolic dysfunction and weight gain.—Wei, Y., Zhang, J., Li, Z., Gow, A., Chung, K. F., Hu, M., Sun, Z., Zeng, L., Zhu, T., Jia, G., Li, X., Duarte, M., Tang, X. Chronic exposure to air pollution particles increases the risk of obesity and metabolic syndrome: findings from a natural experiment in Beijing. FASEB J. 30, 2115–2122 (2016). www.fasebj.org

Quinoline biodegradation and its nitrogen transformation pathway by a Pseudomonas sp. strain

A Pseudomonas sp. strain, which can utilize quinoline as its sole carbon, nitrogen and energy source, was isolated from activated sludge in a coking wastewater treatment plant. Quinoline can be degraded via the 8-hydroxycoumarin pathway. We quantified the first two organic intermediates of the biodegradation, 2-hydroxyquinoline and 2,8-dihydroxyquinoline. We tracked the transformation of the nitrogen in quinoline in two media containing different C/N ratios. At least 40.4% of the nitrogen was finally transformed into ammonium when quinoline was the sole C and N source. But addition of an external carbon source like glucose promoted the transformation of N from NH3 into NO3−, NO2−, and then to N2. The product analysis and gene characteristics indicated that the isolate accomplished heterotrophic nitrification and aerobic denitrification simultaneously. The study also demonstrated that quinoline and its metabolic products can be eliminated if the C/N ratio is properly controlled in the treatment of quinoline-containing wastewater.

Bioaugmentation treatment for coking wastewater containing pyridine and quinoline in a sequencing batch reactor

Two pyridine-degrading bacteria and two quinoline-degrading bacteria were introduced for bioaugmentation to treat the coking wastewater. Sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) were used for a comparative study on the treatment efficiency of pyridine, quinoline, and chemical oxygen demand. Results showed that the treatment efficiency with coking-activated sludge plus a mixture of the four degrading bacteria was much better than that ones with coking-activated sludge only or mixed degrading bacteria only. Moreover, a 52-day continuous operation of the bioaugmented and general SBRs was investigated. The bioaugmented SBR showed better treatment efficiency and stronger capacity to treat high pyridine and quinoline shock loading. The general SBR failed to cope with the shock loading, and the biomass of the activated sludge decreased significantly. In order to monitor the microbial ecological variation during the long-term treatment, the bacterial community in both reactors was monitored by the amplicon length heterogeneity polymerase chain reaction technique. The diversity of the bacterial community decreased in both reactors, but the introduced highly efficient bacteria were dominant in the bioaugmented SBR. Our experiment showed clearly that the use of highly efficient bacteria in SBR process could be a feasible method to treat wastewater containing pyridine or/and quinoline.

Simultaneous biodegradation of pyridine and quinoline by two mixed bacterial strains

Experiments were conducted to provide data on the effectiveness of bioaugmentation in the removal of pyridine and quinoline from different wastewaters. A pyridine-degrading bacterial strain (Paracoccus sp. BW001) and a quinoline-degrading strain (Pseudomonas sp. BW003) were isolated from the activated sludge of a coking wastewater treatment plant. In this study, a consortium of these two bacterial strains was used as inoculum to simultaneously degrade pyridine and quinoline in three types of wastewaters: sterile synthetic, domestic, and industrial. In addition, variation of the bacterial community structures during degradation was monitored by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and amplicon length heterogeneity polymerase chain reaction techniques. The results of our experiments indicate that pyridine and quinoline can be removed efficiently using this inoculum but that the degradation process results in the production of ammonium as a by-product. Also, in the two actual wastewaters investigated, we observed that several autochthonous strains of bacteria in both the domestic and industrial wastewater were tolerant of pyridine and quinoline and grew rapidly.

Developmental toxicity and endocrine disruption of naphthenic acids on the early life stage of zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Oil sands process‐affected water (OSPW) has been reported to exhibit adverse effects on the environment and wildlife. Although the compounds responsible are unknown, naphthenic acids (NAs) have been considered to be implicated. The current study was designed to investigate whether NAs might cause developmental toxicity and endocrine disruption on the early life stage of zebrafish (Danio rerio). The success of embryo hatch was inhibited by 2.5 mg l–1 oil sands NAs (OS‐NAs) exposure, and both OSPW NAs and commercial NAs (C‐NAs) exposure resulted in a variety of developmental lesions in the fish larvae, such as yolk sac edema, pericardial edema and spinal malformation. The transcription of genes involved cytochrome P450 aromatase (CYP19a and CYP19b), estrogen receptors (ERα, ERβ1 and ERβ2), and vitellogenin (VTG) was analyzed to evaluate the endocrine disrupting effects of NAs. Significant up‐regulated gene expressions of CYP19b, ERα and VTG were observed in both OS‐NAs and C‐NAs groups, which indicated the deleteriously estrogenic potential of NAs. These results confirmed that NAs derived from crude petroleum could negatively impact the development and endocrine function of zebrafish, and be primarily responsible for the toxicity of OSPW. Copyright