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Effects of polystyrene nanoplastics with different functional groups on rice (Oryza sativa L.) seedlings: Combined transcriptome, enzymology, and physiology
Summary
Researchers exposed rice seedlings to polystyrene nanoplastics with different surface chemistries and found that all types reduced plant growth and photosynthetic ability. The amino-modified (positively charged) nanoplastics caused the most severe damage, reducing shoot growth by over 40% and dry weight by more than 70%. The study revealed that different surface modifications trigger distinct biological responses in the plant, affecting everything from ion transport to protein synthesis.
Plastic particles originate from the daily use of plastics and have become a new form of pollutant. However, the effects of nanoplastics (NPs) on higher plants remain largely unclear, thus requiring further research. In this study, rice plants were exposed to polystyrene (PS) NPs with different functional groups to determine their toxicity. The presence of NPs reduced the biomass and photosynthetic capacity of rice. Compared with control (CK), the heights of rice plants exposed to no-modified PS, carboxyl-modified PS (PS-COOH) and amino-modified PS (PS-NH) groups decreased by 13.59%, 26.61%, and 42.71%, while the dry shoot weight decreased by 47.46%, 50.09%, and 71.04%, respectively. All treatments activated the antioxidant levels of rice and reduced photosynthesis. Transcriptome analysis showed that NPs induced the expression of genes related to antioxidant enzyme activity in rice roots. Rice could partially reduce the xenobiotic toxicity caused by external sources by regulating phenylpropane biosynthesis and the processes involved in cell detoxification. PS mainly affected the process of RNA metabolism, while PS-COOH mainly affected ion transport, and PS-NH mainly affected the synthesis of macromolecular protein, which had different effects on rice growth.
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