Yuhan Deng, Min Jiang, Mao Wang, Kewei Ren, Xia Luo, Yan Luo, Qing Chen, Chensheng Alex Lu, Cheng Zhi Huang, Qingqing Liu
{"title":"Synergistic Mitochondrial Genotoxicity of Carbon Dots and Arsenate in Earthworms Eisenia fetida across Generations: The Critical Role of Binding","authors":"Yuhan Deng, Min Jiang, Mao Wang, Kewei Ren, Xia Luo, Yan Luo, Qing Chen, Chensheng Alex Lu, Cheng Zhi Huang, Qingqing Liu","doi":"10.1021/acs.est.4c05753","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The escalating utilization of carbon dots (CDs) in agriculture raises ecological concerns. However, their combined toxicity with arsenic remains poorly understood. Herein, we investigated the combined mitochondrial genotoxicity of CDs and arsenate at environmentally relevant concentrations across successive earthworm generations. Iron-doped CDs (CDs<sub>–Fe</sub>) strongly bound to arsenate and arsenite, while nitrogen-doped CDs (CDs<sub>–N</sub>) exhibited weaker binding. Both CDs enhanced arsenate bioaccumulation without affecting its biotransformation, with most arsenate being reduced to arsenite. CDs<sub>–Fe</sub> generated significantly more reactive oxygen species than did CDs<sub>–N</sub>, causing stronger mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage. Arsenate further exacerbated the oxidative mtDNA damage induced by CDs<sub>–N</sub>, as evidenced by increased reactive oxygen species, elevated 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) levels, and a higher correlation between 8-OHdG and mtDNA damage. This was due to arsenic inhibiting the antioxidant enzyme catalase. This exacerbation was negligible with CDs<sub>–Fe</sub> because their strong binding with arsenic prevented catalase inhibition. Maternal mitochondrial DNA damage was inherited by filial earthworms, which experienced significant weight loss in coexposure groups coupled with mtDNA toxicity. This study reveals the synergistic genotoxicity of CDs and arsenate, suggesting that CDs could disrupt the arsenic biogeochemical cycle, increase arsenate risk to terrestrial animals, and influence ecosystem stability and health through multigenerational impacts.","PeriodicalId":36,"journal":{"name":"环境科学与技术","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":10.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"环境科学与技术","FirstCategoryId":"1","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c05753","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, ENVIRONMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The escalating utilization of carbon dots (CDs) in agriculture raises ecological concerns. However, their combined toxicity with arsenic remains poorly understood. Herein, we investigated the combined mitochondrial genotoxicity of CDs and arsenate at environmentally relevant concentrations across successive earthworm generations. Iron-doped CDs (CDs–Fe) strongly bound to arsenate and arsenite, while nitrogen-doped CDs (CDs–N) exhibited weaker binding. Both CDs enhanced arsenate bioaccumulation without affecting its biotransformation, with most arsenate being reduced to arsenite. CDs–Fe generated significantly more reactive oxygen species than did CDs–N, causing stronger mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage. Arsenate further exacerbated the oxidative mtDNA damage induced by CDs–N, as evidenced by increased reactive oxygen species, elevated 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) levels, and a higher correlation between 8-OHdG and mtDNA damage. This was due to arsenic inhibiting the antioxidant enzyme catalase. This exacerbation was negligible with CDs–Fe because their strong binding with arsenic prevented catalase inhibition. Maternal mitochondrial DNA damage was inherited by filial earthworms, which experienced significant weight loss in coexposure groups coupled with mtDNA toxicity. This study reveals the synergistic genotoxicity of CDs and arsenate, suggesting that CDs could disrupt the arsenic biogeochemical cycle, increase arsenate risk to terrestrial animals, and influence ecosystem stability and health through multigenerational impacts.
期刊介绍:
Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T) is a co-sponsored academic and technical magazine by the Hubei Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau and the Hubei Provincial Academy of Environmental Sciences.
Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T) holds the status of Chinese core journals, scientific papers source journals of China, Chinese Science Citation Database source journals, and Chinese Academic Journal Comprehensive Evaluation Database source journals. This publication focuses on the academic field of environmental protection, featuring articles related to environmental protection and technical advancements.