Chemical Structure of Stabilizing Layers of Negatively Charged Silver Nanoparticles as an Effector of Shifts in Soil Bacterial Microbiome under Short-Term Exposure

Abstract

In this work, we have assessed the exposure of soil bacteria from potato monoculture to three types of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) as well as silver ions (Ag⁺ ions) delivered in the form of silver nitrate and a commercially available fungicide. The diversity of the soil microbial community, enzymatic activity, and carbon source utilization were evaluated. It was found that only the fungicide significantly limited the abundance and activity of soil bacteria. Silver ions significantly reduced bacterial metabolic activity. In turn, one type of AgNPs prepared with the use of tannic acid (TA) increased bacterial load and activity. There was found in all AgNPs treated soils (1) a greater proportion of all types of persistent bacteria, i.e., <i>Bacillus</i>, <i>Paenibacillus,</i> and <i>Clostridium</i>; (2) a visible decrease in the proportion of <i>Nocardioides</i>, <i>Arthrobacter,</i> and <i>Candidatus</i> Solibacter; (3) almost complete depletion of <i>Pseudomonas</i>; (4) increase in the number of low-frequency taxa and decrease in dominant taxa compared to the control soil. Despite the general trend of qualitative changes in the bacterial community, it was found that the differences in the chemical structure of the AgNP stabilizing layers had a significant impact on the specific metabolic activity resulting from qualitative changes in the microbiome.