Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Prevalence of microplastics, antibiotic resistant genes and microplastic associated biofilms in estuary - A review

This review examined evidence for microplastics, antibiotic resistance genes, and microplastic-associated biofilms in estuarine ecosystems. Microplastics in estuaries serve as substrates for diverse microbial biofilms including pathogens and antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and estuaries are identified as important reservoirs for microplastic-facilitated horizontal gene transfer.

2022 Environmental Engineering Research 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic biofilms promote the horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes in estuarine environments

Researchers compared how effectively antibiotic resistance genes transfer between bacteria floating freely in water versus bacteria living in biofilms on microplastic surfaces. They found that microplastic biofilms significantly enhanced the transfer of resistance genes compared to free-floating bacteria, with factors like extracellular DNA and cell membrane permeability playing key roles. The study suggests that microplastics in estuaries may act as hotspots for spreading antibiotic resistance in the environment.

2024 Marine Environmental Research 27 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic biofilm as hotspots of antibiotic resistance genes and potential pathogens

This review examined how microplastic biofilms—the plastisphere—serve as hotspots for antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) accumulation and potential pathogen enrichment. The authors described mechanisms by which microplastic surfaces promote horizontal gene transfer and bacterial community shifts that favor ARG-carrying strains, raising concern that microplastics accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance in aquatic environments.

2025 npj Biofilms and Microbiomes
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and Their Role in the Maintenance and Spread of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Marine Ecosystems

This review examines the role of microplastics in maintaining and spreading antibiotic resistance genes in marine ecosystems, synthesizing evidence that plastic pollution in aquatic environments creates reservoirs for antimicrobial resistant bacteria and facilitates horizontal gene transfer.

2022 Antibiot Khimioter = Antibiotics and Chemotherapy 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics pollution in the ocean: Potential carrier of resistant bacteria and resistance genes

This review examined microplastics in marine environments as carriers of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and resistance genes, finding that plastic surfaces selectively enrich resistance genes through horizontal gene transfer and co-selection pressure, making ocean microplastics a vector for resistance dissemination across ecosystems.

2021 Environmental Pollution 96 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic-Mediated Dissemination of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Marine Environments: Mechanisms, Environmental Modulators, and Emerging Risks

This review examines how microplastics serve as vectors for spreading antibiotic resistance genes in marine environments through biofilm formation and horizontal gene transfer. Researchers found that plastic surfaces promote colonization by resistant bacteria, and environmental factors like salinity, UV exposure, and co-occurring heavy metals further accelerate the spread of resistance genes, posing significant ecological and public health risks.

2026 Microplastics
Article Tier 2

[Effects of Microplastics on Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Estuarine Sediments].

Researchers investigated the effects of three types of microplastics on antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in estuarine sediment microcosms, finding that microplastic presence altered the persistence, abundance, and diversity of ARGs as measured by high-throughput quantitative PCR.

2019 PubMed 20 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2024 Environmental Research 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Regulation of ARGs abundance by biofilm colonization on microplastics under selective pressure of antibiotics in river water environment

Researchers investigated how biofilms forming on microplastics in river water affect the spread of antibiotic resistance genes under antibiotic pressure. They found that the presence of antibiotics accelerated biofilm colonization on microplastic surfaces and significantly increased the abundance of resistance genes compared to conditions without antibiotics. The study suggests that microplastics in waterways may serve as hotspots for the development and transfer of antibiotic resistance.

2024 Journal of Environmental Management 30 citations
Article Tier 2

The Impact of Microplastics on Antibiotic Resistance Genes

This review analyzed the distribution, migration, and transfer pathways of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in relation to microplastics in environmental systems. Microplastics serve as substrates for ARG-carrying biofilms (plastispheres), facilitating the spread of antibiotic resistance across ecosystems.

2025 Theoretical and Natural Science
Article Tier 2

Microplastics: Disseminators of antibiotic resistance genes and pathogenic bacteria

This review examined the role of microplastics as carriers of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and pathogenic bacteria, analyzing how plastisphere biofilms concentrate and spread AMR through air, water, and soil environments. The evidence supports MPs as global vectors for antimicrobial resistance dissemination with implications for human health.

2025 Aquatic Toxicology
Article Tier 2

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.

2024 Eco-Environment & Health 63 citations
Meta Analysis Tier 1

Microplastisphere may induce the enrichment of antibiotic resistance genes on microplastics in aquatic environments: A review

This first meta-analysis of antibiotic resistance gene (ARG) enrichment on microplastics found that ARGs were more abundant on microplastic surfaces than on inorganic substrates or in surrounding water, but less abundant than on natural organic substrates. Freshwater microplastics showed a higher degree of ARG enrichment than those in saline water or sewage.

2022 Environmental Pollution 76 citations
Article Tier 2

Emerging Antibiotic Resistance Genes in the Aquatic Ecosystems: a Review

A review of 30 studies found antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) widely distributed across aquatic ecosystems — in surface water, groundwater, wastewater, and notably on plastic and microplastic debris in these environments. Microplastics appear to provide favorable surfaces for the growth and exchange of resistant bacteria, making plastic pollution a potential vector for spreading antibiotic resistance. The findings highlight an understudied intersection between microplastic contamination and the global antibiotic resistance crisis.

2023 Borneo AKademika
Article Tier 2

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.

2019 The Science of The Total Environment 210 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as emerging reservoirs of antimicrobial resistance: Clinical relevance and environmental mechanisms

This review examines how microplastics act as environmental reservoirs for antibiotic resistance genes, creating selective microenvironments through antibiotic and metal adsorption, biofilm formation, and horizontal gene transfer, with potential pathways to clinical human exposure.

2025 Journal of Clinical and Experimental Investigations
Article Tier 2

Bacterial biofilms colonizing plastics in estuarine waters, with an emphasis on Vibrio spp. and their antibacterial resistance

Scientists characterized bacterial biofilms colonizing plastic debris in estuarine waters, finding that plastics host distinct communities including Vibrio species with elevated antibiotic resistance compared to surrounding water.

2020 PLoS ONE 104 citations
Article Tier 2

Selective enrichment of antibiotic resistome and bacterial pathogens by aquatic microplastics

This review found that microplastics in aquatic environments selectively enrich antibiotic-resistant bacteria, resistance genes, and bacterial pathogens in their biofilms, making plastic debris a potential vector for spreading antimicrobial resistance.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 27 citations
Article Tier 2

Impact of the surrounding environment on antibiotic resistance genes carried by microplastics in mangroves

Researchers buried five plastic types in mangrove ecosystems with different surrounding environments and used qPCR to quantify antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) on the plastic surfaces, finding higher ARG abundance in urban mangroves than in protected or aquaculture areas. Polypropylene and HDPE were preferred substrates for ARG-carrying bacteria, and proximity to human activities was the main driver of ARG distribution.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 48 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastisphere antibiotic resistance genes: A bird's-eye view on the plastic-specific diversity and enrichment

Microplastics in the environment act as surfaces for microbial communities called microplastispheres, which this review finds are enriched with antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). The type of plastic, surrounding water chemistry, and co-occurring pollutants all influence which resistance genes accumulate, raising concern that microplastics could be spreading antibiotic resistance through aquatic environments worldwide.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Reshaping the antibiotic resistance genes in plastisphere upon deposition in sediment-water interface: Dynamic evolution and propagation mechanism

Researchers examined how antibiotic resistance genes in the microplastic biofilm (plastisphere) evolve as MPs settle from water to sediment, finding that deposition in sediment reshapes ARG profiles and promotes horizontal gene transfer, amplifying resistance gene reservoirs in benthic environments.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 3 citations
Article Tier 2

[Influencing Factors and Mechanisms of Antibiotic Resistance Gene Enrichment by Microplastics in the Environment].

This review examines how microplastics in the environment serve as carriers for antibiotic resistance genes, enriching and spreading resistant bacteria across air, soil, water, and sediments. Researchers found that the type, surface characteristics, and aging of microplastics all influence how effectively they accumulate resistance genes and facilitate horizontal gene transfer. The findings highlight the need to consider microplastics as an important vector in the environmental spread of antibiotic resistance.

2026 PubMed
Article Tier 2

Exploring the dynamics of antibiotic resistome on plastic debris traveling from the river to the sea along a representative estuary based on field sequential transfer incubations

Researchers tracked how antibiotic resistance genes change on plastic debris as it travels from a river through an estuary into the sea. They found that over 80 percent of resistance genes persisted on the plastic throughout the journey, and some genes found on the plastic were absent from the surrounding seawater. The study suggests that floating plastic waste could act as a vehicle for spreading antibiotic resistance from inland waterways into marine environments.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in marine pollution: Oceanic hitchhikers for the global dissemination of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria

This review examines how marine microplastics serve as surfaces for biofilm formation by bacteria, including carbapenem-resistant strains, enabling the global dissemination of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria through ocean currents. The authors highlight the plastisphere as an understudied vector for spreading antibiotic resistance genes across marine environments.

2025 One Health 4 citations