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Soil viral–host interactions regulate microplastic-dependent carbon storage
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Researchers discovered that microplastics in soil affect carbon storage by changing how viruses and bacteria interact underground. Non-biodegradable microplastics reduced soil carbon by over 17%, while biodegradable ones slightly increased it, through different effects on microbial communities. This matters for human health because soil carbon cycling influences agricultural productivity and the broader climate system.
Microplastic is globally regarded as an important factor impacting biogeochemical cycles, yet our understanding of such influences is limited by the uncertainties of intricate microbial processes. By multiomics analysis, coupled with soil chemodiversity characterization and microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE), we investigated how microbial responses to microplastics impacted soil carbon cycling in a long-term field experiment. We showed that biodegradable microplastics promoted soil organic carbon accrual by an average of 2.47%, while nondegradable microplastics inhibited it by 17.4%, as a consequence of the virus-bacteria coadaptations to the microplastics disturbance. In the relevant functional pathways, nondegradable microplastics significantly (P < 0.05) enhanced the abundance and transcriptional activity related to complex carbohydrate metabolism, whereas biodegradable microplastics significantly (P < 0.05) promoted functions involved in amino acid metabolism and glycolysis. Accordingly, viral lysis enhanced in nondegradable microplastics treatments to introduce more complex organic compounds to soil dissolved organic matters, thus benefiting the oligotrophs with high carbon metabolic capabilities in exploitation competition. In contrast, biodegradable microplastics enriched viral auxiliary metabolic genes of carbon metabolism through "piggyback-the-winner" strategy, conferring to dominant copiotrophs, enhanced substrate utilization capabilities. These virus-host interactions were also demonstrated in the corresponding soil plastisphere, which would alter microbial resource allocation and metabolism via CUE, affecting carbon storage consequently. Overall, our results underscore the importance of viral-host interactions in understanding the microplastics-dependent carbon storage in the soil ecosystem.
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Biodegradable MicroplasticDiversity Drives Soil CarbonLability via Phage-Boosted Bacterial Degradation of Recalcitrant Compounds
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Scientists found that when soil contains a greater variety of biodegradable microplastics (plastic bits meant to break down naturally), it speeds up how quickly soil carbon gets broken into simpler compounds, partly because tiny viruses that infect bacteria are helping them digest tough, hard-to-break-down organic matter. This matters because soil carbon storage helps regulate climate, and this research shows that even "eco-friendly" plastics can alter soil ecosystems in ways that may release stored carbon faster than expected, a reminder that biodegradable plastics aren't necessarily harmless as they break down in the environment
Phage Lysis Associated with Biodegradable Microplastics Mediates Microbial Physiological Adaptation to Transform Organic Matter in Soil
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A study of agricultural soil found that two biodegradable microplastics affected soil carbon differently by changing virus activity. One type reduced plant-based organic matter by boosting virus-caused bacterial die-off, while the other increased microbial-derived organic matter by helping surviving bacteria build new compounds from virus byproducts.
Soil microplastics pollution can reduce viral abundance and have less consistent impacts on bacteria
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Researchers exposed soils containing natural microbial communities to polyethylene and PVC microplastics and found that both types consistently reduced viral abundance, while effects on bacteria were more variable, suggesting microplastic pollution may alter the balance of microbial communities that regulate soil processes.
From Microbes to Molecules: Biodegradable Microplastics Reshape Soil Carbon Metabolism and Composition of Dissolved Organic Matter
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"Biodegradable" plastics, often marketed as the eco-friendly alternative to regular plastic, actually shake up soil in bigger ways than conventional microplastics do—changing which microbes and viruses thrive there and how they break down carbon-containing matter. This matters because soil health underpins the food we eat and how well soil stores carbon, so before biodegradable plastics get widely used in farming, we need to understand their hidden effects on the soil ecosystems we depend on.
Microplastic effects on carbon cycling processes in soils
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Researchers reviewed how microplastics affect carbon cycling processes in soils, including their influence on microbial activity, plant growth, and litter decomposition. Since microplastics are themselves carbon-based materials, they can directly alter soil carbon stocks while also indirectly shifting microbial communities. The study calls for a major research effort to understand the widespread effects of microplastics on soil functioning and terrestrial ecosystem health.
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