A humic substance analogue AQDS stimulates Geobacter sp. abundance and enhances pentachlorophenol transformation in a paddy soil

• We report the enhancement mechanism of AQDS for PCP transformation in paddy soil.
• Higher dosages of AQDS (>2 mM) have significant effect on soil microbial community.
• Added AQDS enhances the amount of Geobacter sp. and active Fe(II) species.
• k value of PCP transformation is positive exponent relationship with AQDS dosage.

Soil humic substances can be used as redox mediators in accelerating the biotransformation of organic pollutants, and humus-respiring bacteria are widely distributed in soils. However, the impact of humic substances on the soil microbial community during the biotransformation of organic pollutants is expected to be crucial while remains to be unclear. In this study, the biostimulation of indigenous microbial communities and the consequent effects on anaerobic transformation of pentachlorophenol (PCP) by a model humic substance, anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonate (AQDS), were systematically investigated in a paddy soil. The addition of AQDS was observed to increase the production of HCl-extractable Fe(II) and enhance the PCP transformation rates consequently. The pseudo-first-order rate constants of the PCP transformation showed a positive exponential relationship with the AQDS dosage. The terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) results indicated the substantial effect of added AQDS on soil microbial community. The enhanced abundance of Geobacter sp. was disclosed to be most critical for accelerated PCP transformation when with AQDS, in which Geobacter sp. functioned for promoting the generation of active Fe(II) and consequently enhancing the PCP transformation rates. The transformation rates of PCP were exponentially correlated with the abundance of Geobacter sp. positively. The findings are expected to improve the understanding of diversity and ubiquity of microorganisms in humic substances-rich soils for accelerating the transformations of soil chlorinated pollutants.

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