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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Fibrous and Fragmented Microplastics Discharged from Sewage Amplify Health Risks Associated with Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Aquatic Environments
ClearFibrous and FragmentedMicroplastics Discharged fromSewage Amplify Health Risks Associated with Antibiotic ResistanceGenes in Aquatic Environments
Researchers used metagenomic sequencing and high-throughput qPCR to characterize antibiotic resistance genes in sewage discharge-receiving waters, finding that fibrous and fragmented microplastics selectively enriched and transported resistance genes — amplifying antibiotic resistance risks beyond the genes' direct aquatic transfer.
Microplastics shape microbial interactions and affect the dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes in different full-scale wastewater treatment plants
A study of three full-scale wastewater treatment plants found that microplastics were associated with increased spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), with microplastic surfaces appearing to facilitate microbial interactions that promote ARG transfer. This is a significant public health concern because wastewater plants that fail to fully remove microplastics may also be inadvertently accelerating the dissemination of antibiotic resistance into receiving waterways.
Antibiotic resistance genes and virulence factors in the plastisphere in wastewater treatment plant effluent: Health risk quantification and driving mechanism interpretation
Researchers found that microplastics in treated wastewater carry significantly more disease-causing bacteria, antibiotic resistance genes, and virulence factors on their surfaces compared to the surrounding water. This means microplastics released from wastewater treatment plants into rivers and lakes could spread antibiotic-resistant infections, posing a direct risk to communities that rely on these water sources.
Contribution of microplastic particles to the spread of resistances and pathogenic bacteria in treated wastewaters
Researchers studied microplastic particles collected from treated wastewater effluents and found that MPs harbored significantly higher loads of antibiotic resistance genes and pathogenic bacteria compared to surrounding water, suggesting MPs facilitate their environmental spread.
Fragmented Microplastics Synergize with Biological Treatment To Potentiate Antibiotic Resistance Dissemination during Sewage Treatment
Researchers used metagenomic sequencing and high-throughput qPCR across a full sewage treatment chain to show that fragmented microplastics preferentially concentrate clinically relevant antibiotic resistance genes, with MP-bound genes contributing up to 43% of intracellular resistance genes detected in treated effluent, and Acinetobacter emerging as a key resistance indicator.
Enhanced propagation of intracellular and extracellular antibiotic resistance genes in municipal wastewater by microplastics
Researchers investigated how microplastics in municipal wastewater can carry and promote the spread of antibiotic resistance genes, including those found both inside and outside bacterial cells. They found that microplastics adsorbed both types of resistance genes and enhanced their transfer between bacteria through horizontal gene transfer. The study reveals that microplastics in wastewater systems may act as an underappreciated accelerator of antibiotic resistance spread.
Microplastics exhibit accumulation and horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes
Researchers investigated whether microplastics in wastewater treatment plants can accumulate and spread antibiotic resistance genes. They found that bacteria growing on microplastic surfaces in treatment tanks harbored antibiotic resistance genes and transferred them at higher rates than bacteria in the surrounding water. This suggests microplastics in wastewater systems may serve as hotspots for spreading antibiotic resistance, posing potential risks to both ecosystems and human health.
Microplastics and Antibiotic Resistance: The Magnitude of the Problem and the Emerging Role of Hospital Wastewater
This review examines how microplastics in water can carry antibiotic-resistant bacteria and spread resistance genes, especially through hospital wastewater. Microplastics provide a surface where bacteria easily form colonies and share resistance genes, creating a potential threat to human health. The authors call for better wastewater management to reduce this emerging risk.
Microplastic pollution increases gene exchange in aquatic ecosystems
Researchers found that microplastics in aquatic environments serve as surfaces where bacteria form biofilms and exchange genes at higher rates than free-living bacteria. The study demonstrated increased transfer of antibiotic resistance genes among a wide range of bacterial species growing on microplastic particles. The findings suggest that microplastic pollution could accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance in waterways, posing a potential hazard to both ecosystems and human health.
Quantifying health risks of plastisphere antibiotic resistome and deciphering driving mechanisms in an urbanizing watershed
This study measured the health risks posed by antibiotic resistance genes found on microplastic surfaces in a watershed affected by urbanization. Polyethylene microplastics carried the highest risk, and urban development increased the danger by promoting the spread of resistance genes among bacteria living on plastic surfaces. The findings show that microplastics in waterways act as vehicles for antibiotic resistance, which could make infections harder to treat in communities downstream.
Microplastics Enhance the Prevalence of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Anaerobic Sludge Digestion by Enriching Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria in Surface Biofilm and Facilitating the Vertical and Horizontal Gene Transfer
This study found that microplastics in sewage sludge promote the spread of antibiotic resistance genes, which make bacteria harder to treat with antibiotics. Microplastics provided a surface for resistant bacteria to grow and helped them share resistance genes with other bacteria. The more microplastics present, the more antibiotic resistance spread, raising concerns about how plastic pollution in wastewater could contribute to the growing antibiotic resistance crisis.
Underestimated Risks of Microplastics on the Environmental Spread of Antibiotic Resistance Genes
Researchers highlight how microplastics in aquatic environments can accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance genes, a risk that current assessment methods may significantly underestimate. Biofilms that form on microplastic surfaces create conditions where bacteria are in close contact, facilitating the transfer of resistance genes between species. The study argues that standard microplastic detection methods miss many small particles, meaning the true scope of this resistance-spreading pathway is likely much larger than reported.
Size effects of microplastics on antibiotic resistome and core microbiome in an urban river
Scientists found that microplastics in an urban river serve as platforms for antibiotic-resistant bacteria and dangerous pathogens including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and Legionella pneumophila. Larger microplastic particles harbored more antibiotic resistance genes, and the concentrations of these genes were much higher on plastic surfaces than in the surrounding water. This research raises concerns that microplastics in waterways could spread drug-resistant infections by providing a surface where dangerous bacteria thrive and share resistance genes.
Fates of extracellular and intracellular antibiotic resistance genes in activated sludge and plastisphere under sulfadiazine pressure
Researchers found that microplastics in wastewater treatment systems act as reservoirs for antibiotic resistance genes, with the plastic surfaces (plastisphere) harboring more resistance genes than the surrounding sludge. When exposed to the antibiotic sulfadiazine, the spread of resistance genes on microplastic surfaces increased, and DNA from potential pathogens was detected. This suggests that microplastics leaving wastewater treatment plants could carry drug-resistant bacteria into waterways, posing a risk to public health.
Interaction of Microplastics with Antibiotics in Aquatic Environment: Distribution, Adsorption, and Toxicity
This review examines how microplastics and antibiotics interact in waterways, finding that microplastics can absorb antibiotics from the water and change their availability and toxicity to aquatic organisms. Critically, microplastics also provide surfaces where antibiotic resistance genes can accumulate and spread among bacteria. This is concerning for human health because it means microplastics in water could be accelerating the spread of antibiotic-resistant infections.
A review focusing on mechanisms and ecological risks of enrichment and propagation of antibiotic resistance genes and mobile genetic elements by microplastic biofilms
This review examines how microplastics in water serve as surfaces for bacterial biofilms that harbor antibiotic resistance genes. The biofilms that form on microplastic surfaces can spread resistance genes to other bacteria and potentially to organisms that ingest them, including fish and ultimately humans. The authors highlight that microplastic-associated antibiotic resistance is an underappreciated public health risk that needs more research.
Microplastics in fresh- and wastewater are potential contributors to antibiotic resistance - A minireview
Researchers reviewed the link between microplastic pollution and the spread of antibiotic resistance in freshwater environments, finding that microplastic surfaces host unique bacterial communities enriched in antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the resistance genes they can share with other microbes. The close packing of bacteria in these plastic-surface biofilms may accelerate the spread of drug-resistant pathogens through drinking water sources, though the full health implications remain poorly understood.
Microplastics can selectively enrich intracellular and extracellular antibiotic resistant genes and shape different microbial communities in aquatic systems
Researchers examined how microplastics of different types selectively capture antibiotic resistance genes and shape microbial communities in aquatic systems. They found that microplastics enriched both intracellular and extracellular antibiotic resistance genes, with the enrichment patterns varying by plastic type. The study suggests that microplastics may serve as hotspots for the spread of antimicrobial resistance in wastewater and natural water environments.
Ecotoxicological Effects of Microplastics Combined With Antibiotics in the Aquatic Environment: Recent Developments and Prospects
This review examines how microplastics and antibiotics interact in water environments, finding that microplastics can absorb antibiotics onto their surfaces and carry them over long distances. When aquatic organisms encounter these antibiotic-laden microplastics, the combined toxicity can be worse than either pollutant alone. Microplastics also promote the spread of antibiotic resistance genes, which is a growing public health concern.
Biodegradable and conventional microplastics as vectors of extracellular ARGs in WWTP effluents: Mechanistic and differential global health risk
Researchers characterized extracellular antibiotic resistance genes bound to biodegradable and non-biodegradable microplastics in wastewater treatment plant effluents, finding mechanistic differences in how each plastic type associates with resistance gene-carrying DNA and estimating resulting global health risks.
Selectively enrichment of antibiotics and ARGs by microplastics in river, estuary and marine waters
Researchers investigated how microplastics interact with antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes across river, estuary, and marine environments of varying salinity. They found that microplastics can concentrate both antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes from surrounding water, with this enrichment effect being strongest in freshwater and decreasing as salinity increases. The study raises concerns that microplastics may serve as vehicles for spreading antibiotic resistance in aquatic ecosystems.
Microplastics act as a carrier for wastewater-borne pathogenic bacteria in sewage
Researchers found that microplastics in sewage systems serve as carriers for pathogenic bacteria, including disease-causing species that can colonize their surfaces. The study highlights that because microplastics are small enough to pass through wastewater treatment filtration systems, bacteria-laden microplastics may be released into waterways, raising concerns for public health.
Biofilm formation on microplastics and interactions with antibiotics, antibiotic resistance genes and pathogens in aquatic environment
This review explains how microplastics in waterways develop bacterial biofilms on their surfaces that can harbor antibiotic-resistant bacteria and help spread antibiotic resistance genes to new environments. This is concerning for human health because these resistant microbes could eventually reach people through drinking water or seafood consumption.
Microplastics mediates the spread of antimicrobial resistance plasmids via modulating conjugal gene expression
This study found that four common types of microplastics can increase the spread of antibiotic resistance genes between bacteria by up to 200-fold. The microplastics activated stress-response genes in bacteria that promote the sharing of resistance-carrying DNA. This links two major public health threats, showing that microplastic pollution could make antibiotic-resistant infections more common and harder to treat.