{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T05:07:53Z","timestamp":1788930473076,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788739200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100017700","name":"Henan Provincial Science and Technology Research Project","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["252102321110"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["252102321110"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100017700","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100017700","name":"Henan Provincial Science and Technology Research Project","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["25210211019"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["25210211019"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100017700","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["42401115"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["42401115"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"award":["42401115"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["42401115"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/01h0zpd94","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100006407","name":"Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["242300420144"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["242300420144"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100006407","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100006407","name":"Natural Science Foundation of Henan Province","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["242300420466"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["242300420466"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100006407","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Biology"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Cadmium (Cd) pollution threatens global ecosystems and human health owing to its high toxicity, long-term persistence, and dual irreversibility of environmental geochemical behavior and biological toxicological effects. The interaction between phosphate-solubilizing fungi (PSF) and clay minerals governs the biogeochemical transformation, chemical speciation, and migration fate of soil Cd. However, the dose-dependent mechanisms underlying Cd2+ removal by Aspergillus niger (A. niger) and montmorillonite remain unclear. In this study, three Cd2+ stress levels were simulated, and four A. niger-montmorillonite composite systems were established. Key physicochemical and metabolic indicators, including pH, available phosphorus (AP) concentration, oxalic acid concentration, acid phosphatase (ACP) activity, and Cd2+ removal rate, were determined. The results showed that the single A. niger treatment achieved the optimal Cd removal performance among all composite treatment groups. Severe Cd2+ stress induced abundant oxalic acid and ACP secretion, which simultaneously mobilized phosphorus and facilitated Cd removal via phosphate precipitation and oxalate complexation. Low-to-medium montmorillonite dosage temporarily alleviated Cd2+ toxicity, whereas high montmorillonite dosage restricted fungal metabolic exudates and, together with acid-mediated mineral-Cd interactions, triggered antagonistic rather than synergistic Cd removal. This study clarifies how montmorillonite dosage reshapes the metabolic defense of A. niger, providing theoretical references for optimizing microbe\u2013montmorillonite composite remediation formulations.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/biology15171564","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T12:12:25Z","timestamp":1788783145000},"page":"1564","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Dose-Dependent Antagonistic Effects of Montmorillonite on Cadmium Removal Efficiency and Metabolic Defense of Aspergillus niger"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9352-8266","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lin","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"methodology","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-original-draft","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Yuwen","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"software","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Kun","family":"Mao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"validation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"formal-analysis","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"data-curation","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6190-1011","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhendong","family":"Hong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"conceptualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"supervision","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Chen","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"investigation","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"funding-acquisition","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Chenhui","family":"Wei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"visualization","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]},{"given":"Qiaoming","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Horticulture and Plant Protection, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471023, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"},{"role":"project-administration","vocabulary":"credit"},{"role":"writing-review-editing","vocabulary":"credit"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101569","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jscs.2022.101569","article-title":"Cadmium sources, toxicity, resistance and removal by microorganisms-A potential strategy for cadmium eradication","volume":"26","author":"Khan","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. 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