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Ingestion and digestion by the freshwater snail Pomacea canaliculata drive microplastic surface transformations and virus-mediated plastisphere functional shifts
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Researchers exposed freshwater apple snails to polystyrene and expanded polystyrene microplastics, finding that snail digestion deformed EPS particles and induced surface oxidation of both plastic types, while also altering plastisphere virus and bacterial communities and affecting antibiotic resistance patterns.
Microplastics are widely present in aquatic animals, but the effects of animal feeding behavior on their surface properties, particularly plastisphere functionality and viral community remain poorly understood. This study investigated the effects of freshwater apple snails ingesting polystyrene (PS) and expanded polystyrene (EPS) microplastics through three microcosm experiments, quantifying ingestion rates, characterizing surface transformations, and profiling plastisphere microbiota. Snails retained ∼2-45 microplastic particles in their gut, with a residence time of ∼48 h. Digestion deformed EPS and induced surface oxidation of both PS and EPS, generally reducing plastisphere antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs; by ∼30 %) and methanogenesis pathways (by ∼85 %), while enhancing denitrification pathways (by ∼80 %) and human health resistome risk (HHRR; by ∼80 %) from EPS. Notably, digestion affected plastisphere viruses more strongly than bacteria, highlighting viruses as key drivers of digestion-induced plastisphere functional shifts. Plastisphere temperate viruses carried more ARGs, correlating with elevated resistome risks, whereas virulent viruses harbored more auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs), correlating with reduced PS-degrading bacteria. Both viral lifestyles were differentially linked to carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur cycling. Overall, this study demonstrates that animal feeding behavior can reshape microplastic environmental fate and ecological risks, with viruses playing a key mediating role.
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Pomacea canaliculata alters the composition, diversity, function, and assembly of bacterial community in freshwater plastisphere, shifting it closer to gut microbiota
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Researchers studied how the invasive apple snail affects microbial communities living on microplastic surfaces in freshwater environments. They found that snails actively ingested microplastics and significantly altered the bacterial communities on the plastic surfaces, shifting them to resemble the snails' own gut bacteria and increasing the presence of antibiotic resistance genes. The study reveals that aquatic animals can reshape the microbial ecosystems on microplastics in ways that may spread harmful bacteria and resistance traits.
Adaptive gut microbiota dysbiosis coupled with altered fatty acid metabolism in apple snails (Pomacea canaliculata): A potential strategy against polystyrene microplastic stress
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Researchers exposed apple snails to polystyrene microplastics for 21 days and found that higher concentrations reduced food intake and weight gain while causing oxidative stress in intestinal tissues. The microplastics also significantly altered the snails' gut microbiome composition and disrupted fatty acid metabolism. The study suggests that freshwater snails may adapt to microplastic stress through changes in their gut bacteria and metabolic pathways, though at a cost to their overall health.
Impact of microplastics exposure on the reconfiguration of viral community structure and disruption of ecological functions in the digestive gland of Mytilus coruscus
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Researchers studied how polyethylene microplastic ingestion affects the viral community in the digestive glands of thick-shelled mussels through a field exposure experiment. They found that microplastic ingestion significantly reduced virome diversity and altered viral community composition, while microplastic biofilms carried abundant antibiotic resistance genes and virulence factors. The findings suggest that microplastics may serve as vectors for spreading resistance genes and destabilizing microbial networks in marine organisms.
Microplastic exposure reshapes the virome and virus–bacteria networks with implications for immune regulation in Mytilus coruscus
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Researchers exposed mussels to microplastics for seven days and analyzed how the pollution affected viral communities in their tissues. They found that microplastic exposure suppressed DNA virus diversity while activating RNA viral metabolism, and restructured interactions between bacteria-infecting viruses and opportunistic pathogens. The study suggests that microplastics may influence immune function in shellfish by reshaping the viral community and virus-mediated immune interactions.
Systematic review on the potential role of terrestrial gastropods in microplastic transformation and bioremediation
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Researchers synthesized evidence from 2000–2025 on how land snails interact with soil microplastics, finding that radular abrasion and digestive processes can mechanically fragment and partially oxidize polymers like polystyrene, potentially increasing microplastic bioavailability to soil microbial communities, though enzymatic evidence and field-scale data remain scarce.
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