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Response and Adaptation Mechanisms of Algal-Bacterial Symbiotic Systems Under Emerging Pollutant Stress
Summary
This review paper looks at how tiny water-based ecosystems made of algae and bacteria—natural cleanup crews in lakes, rivers, and oceans—respond to modern pollutants like antibiotics, microplastics, and chemicals from personal care products. Understanding how these systems adapt (or struggle) matters because they help filter and detoxify our water supplies naturally, and if pollution overwhelms them, it could mean dirtier water and more contaminants making their way back to us. The researchers didn't run new experiments but pulled together existing science to guide future efforts in protecting these natural water-cleaning systems.
With the continuous advancement of industrialization and urbanization, emerging pollutants—including antibiotics and their resistance genes, personal care products, and microplastics—have been increasingly released into environmental matrices. Their persistence, bioaccumulation potential, and ecological risks have emerged as core research foci in global environmental science. As a pivotal component of aquatic ecosystems, the algal-bacterial symbiotic system fulfills an irreplaceable ecological role in material cycling, energy flow, and environmental purification. This study systematically reviews the categories, physicochemical properties, and environmental fates of typical emerging pollutants, elaborates on the community structure and core ecological functions of algal-bacterial symbiotic systems, and comprehensively analyzes the impacts of emerging pollutants on these systems at both physiological and molecular levels. Furthermore, it reveals the underlying response and adaptation mechanisms of the systems under pollutant stress. Finally, the limitations of current research are summarized, and future research directions are proposed, aiming to provide theoretical support and scientific references for the protection of aquatic ecological environments and the engineering application of algal-bacterial symbiotic systems.