New insights into bacterial Zn homeostasis and molecular architecture of the metal resistome in soil polluted with nano zinc oxide.

Accumulation of nano ZnO (nZnO) in soils could be toxic to bacterial communities through disruption of Zn homeostasis. Under such conditions, bacterial communities strive to maintain cellular Zn levels by accentuation of appropriate cellular machinery. In this study, soil was exposed to a gradient (50-1000 mg Zn kg) of nZnO for evaluating their effects on genes involved in Zn homeostasis (ZHG).