Irreversible Immune Dysfunction in Earthworms from MoS ₂ Nanosheet Exposure: Implications for Nanoenabled Agricultural Sustainability

Nano-MoS₂ is emerging as a promising agricultural nanomaterial. However, nanoenabled agriculture must balance the proposed benefits with potential risks associated with material incorporation into soil matrices. This work establishes a full-process risk assessment profile for MoS₂ encompassing precursor particles, exfoliated nanosheets, and dissolved ionic species using the soil invertebrate <i>Eisenia fetida</i> under exposure-recovery cycles. The results showed that although precursor MoS₂ exposure at 5-50 mg Mo/kg for 7 days significantly activated (<i>p</i> < 0.001) earthworm lumbrokinase (9.4%), antimicrobial peptide (10.2-14.0%), and hemolysin (11.9%) levels compared to the control, the biota exhibited transient immune memory and persistence upon another 7 days of recovery. Once exfoliated to nanosheet form at a consistent 5-50 mg Mo/kg dose range, more pronounced ion release (3.8-6.4%) and prolonged <i>in vivo</i> accumulation (43.9-55.4% excluded) of MoS₂ nanosheets mediated persistent immune-related gene initiation. Importantly, the filamentous extension of external DNA between immune cells and deterministic clustering of endosymbiotic microbial communities were shown to collaboratively establish the <i>in vivo</i> homeostasis after MoS₂ nanosheet exposure. These findings mechanistically demonstrate the persistent stress on soil invertebrate immune systems under MoS₂ nanosheet exposure and highlight the need to link nanoenabled agriculture to soil eco-sustainability.