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Microplastic risk assessment and toxicity in plants: a review
Summary
Researchers review how microplastics harm plants across multiple mechanisms — inhibiting growth, inducing oxidative stress, blocking nutrient and metal absorption, and disrupting plant-microbe interactions — with consequences for metabolic pathways, gene expression, and crop yields.
Microplastics have recently emerged as major pollutants widely occurring in the atmosphere, seawater, and soils. Microplastic toxicity in plants results in economic losses from declining crop yields. Here, we review microplastic toxicity in plants with emphasis on plant growth and development, oxidative stress, hindering nutrient absorption, metal absorption, physical plant damage, toxicity mechanisms, and synergy with other stressors. We discuss consequences on metabolic pathways, gene expression, and plant–microbe interactions.