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Photo-aged polylactic acid microplastics causes severe transgenerational decline in reproductive capacity in C. elegans: Insight into activation of DNA damage checkpoints affected by multiple germline histone methyltransferases
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Researchers found that even supposedly biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) microplastics, after being aged by sunlight, caused severe reproductive decline in worms that persisted across multiple generations. This is concerning because PLA is widely marketed as an eco-friendly alternative to conventional plastic, yet these results suggest that sunlight-degraded PLA particles may pose long-lasting biological harm through changes in gene regulation.
At parental generation (P0-G), photo-aged polylactic acid microplastics (PLA-MPs) could cause severe toxicity on nematodes. However, their transgenerational toxicity and underlying mechanism remain largely unknown. Severe transgenerational decline in reproductive capacity was observed in nematodes after exposure to 1-100 μg/L photo-aged PLA-MPs. This transgenerational reproductive toxicity was not related to leachates of photo-aged PLA-MPs, and only partially related to their transgenerational accumulation. The photo-aged PLA-MPs caused transgenerational decline in reproductive capacity was associated with transgenerational reduction in mitotic cell number in gonads and germline apoptosis induction. As upregulators of genes governing germline apoptosis, transgenerational activation of DNA damage checkpoint was induced by photo-aged PLA-MPs. Moreover, after photo-aged PLA-MPs exposure, 9 germline histone methyltransferase (HMTs) genes were identified to exhibit transgenerational change of their expressions. Among them, photo-aged PLA-MPs induced germline apoptosis and DNA damage checkpoint activation were strengthened by mes-2, set-27, set-24, set-28, set-31, and set-2 RNAi, and suppressed by met-2, set-3, and set-6 RNAi. Therefore, our results suggested exposure risk of photo-aged PLA-MPs in the range of μg/L in inducing severe transgenerational toxicity on reproductive capacity, which was driven by germline HMTs controlled DNA damage checkpoints activation.
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Polylactic acid microplastics cause transgenerational reproductive toxicity associated with activation of insulin and hedgehog ligands in C. elegans
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Exposure to polylactic acid microplastics -- a supposedly biodegradable plastic -- caused reproductive damage in tiny roundworms that persisted across multiple generations even after the initial exposure ended. The microplastics triggered a chain of genetic changes involving cell death pathways and epigenetic modifications (changes to how genes are read rather than the DNA itself). This transgenerational effect raises concerns that even "green" plastics could have lasting biological consequences.
Comparison of reproductive toxicity between pristine and aged polylactic acid microplastics in Caenorhabditis elegans
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This study compared the effects of new versus UV-aged biodegradable PLA microplastics on reproductive health using a worm model, finding that aged particles caused significantly more reproductive damage and DNA injury. The results suggest that biodegradable plastics become more toxic as they weather in the environment, which matters because these aged particles are what organisms, including humans, are most likely to encounter.
Photoaged Polystyrene Nanoplastics Result in Transgenerational Reproductive Toxicity Associated with the Methylation of Histone H3K4 and H3K9 in Caenorhabditis elegans
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When roundworms were exposed to sun-aged polystyrene nanoplastics at environmentally relevant levels, the reproductive damage passed down to unexposed future generations through changes in gene-regulating chemical marks called histone methylation. Sun-aged nanoplastics caused more severe fertility problems than fresh ones, and these effects persisted for two generations after exposure stopped. This study is alarming because it shows nanoplastic exposure could cause hereditary reproductive harm without changing DNA itself.
Reproductive toxicity of UV-photodegraded polystyrene microplastics induced by DNA damage-dependent cell apoptosis in Caenorhabditis elegans
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Researchers investigated how UV-photodegraded polystyrene microplastics affect reproduction in the nematode C. elegans at environmentally relevant concentrations. The study found that aged microplastics caused more severe reproductive toxicity than pristine ones, operating through a DNA damage-induced cell death pathway, suggesting that weathered microplastics in the environment may pose greater biological risks.
Aged polystyrene microplastics cause reproductive impairment via DNA-damage induced apoptosis in Caenorhabditis elegans
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Researchers found that sunlight-aged polystyrene microplastics caused significantly more reproductive damage than fresh microplastics in a laboratory worm model. The aged particles triggered DNA damage and programmed cell death in reproductive tissue through a specific signaling pathway. This matters because microplastics in the real environment are typically weathered by sunlight, making them potentially more harmful to fertility than laboratory studies using new plastics would suggest.
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