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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Effects of Nano-Titanium Dioxide on the Horizontal Transfer of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Microplastic Biofilms
ClearAntagonistic effects of microplastic biofilms on antibiotic resistance gene horizontal transfer in water environments
Microplastics in water environments accumulate bacteria on their surfaces, forming biofilms that were long assumed to accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance genes between microbes. This study challenges that assumption by showing that microplastic biofilms can actually reduce the rate of antibiotic resistance gene transfer compared to free-floating bacteria — dampening both the promoting effect of certain chemicals and the inhibiting effect of others. The finding adds important nuance to the debate about microplastics as vectors for antibiotic resistance, suggesting the relationship is more complex than a simple amplifier.
New insight into the effect of microplastics on antibiotic resistance and bacterial community of biofilm
Researchers found that different types of microplastics promote distinct biofilm communities and enhance antibiotic resistance gene proliferation compared to natural substrates, suggesting microplastics serve as unique platforms for the spread of antimicrobial resistance.
Horizontal Gene Transfer of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Biofilms
This review explains how bacteria living in biofilms -- sticky communities attached to surfaces -- can rapidly share antibiotic resistance genes with each other through horizontal gene transfer, spreading resistance faster than free-floating bacteria. This is relevant to microplastic pollution because microplastics provide ideal surfaces for biofilm formation, potentially acting as hotspots for the spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment.
Unraveling the effect of micro/nanoplastics on the occurrence and horizontal transfer of environmental antibiotic resistance genes: Advances, mechanisms and future prospects
This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics promote the spread of antibiotic resistance genes in the environment. The tiny plastic particles create conditions that help bacteria exchange resistance genes more easily by generating oxidative stress, making cell membranes more permeable, and providing surfaces where resistant bacteria can form communities. This is a growing public health concern because antibiotic-resistant infections are increasingly difficult to treat.
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.
Nano- and Microplastics Aided by Extracellular Polymeric Substances Facilitate the Conjugative Transfer of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Bacteria
Researchers found that nanoplastics and small microplastics significantly enhance the transfer of antibiotic resistance genes between bacteria by damaging cell membranes and stimulating extracellular polymeric substance production, raising concerns about plastic pollution driving antimicrobial resistance.
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.
Biofilms: hot spots of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in aquatic environments, with a focus on a new HGT mechanism
This review covers horizontal gene transfer in aquatic biofilms, with emphasis on antibiotic resistance gene spread, and introduces membrane vesicles as a newly recognized HGT mechanism by which bacteria share genetic material, with implications for understanding resistance spread on microplastic surfaces.
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.
From Interface to Cell: The Complex Interaction and Transfer Process Coupling Mechanism between Microplastics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes
Researchers examined how microplastic surfaces act as vectors for spreading antibiotic resistance genes in wastewater treatment systems. The study found that aged microplastics of PET, PE, and PP promoted bacterial adhesion, enhanced horizontal gene transfer, and triggered overproduction of reactive oxygen species, ultimately amplifying the spread of antimicrobial resistance through multiple molecular mechanisms.
Growth and prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in microplastic biofilm from wastewater treatment plant effluents
Researchers studied antibiotic-resistant bacteria growing in biofilms on microplastic surfaces in wastewater treatment plant effluent. The study found that microplastic biofilms accumulated antibiotic-resistant bacteria including Pseudomonas, Aeromonas, and Bacillus, and that these biofilms harbored higher concentrations of resistance genes compared to surrounding water, suggesting microplastics may serve as reservoirs for antibiotic resistance.
Microbubble-microplastic interactions in batch air flotation
Researchers explored the role of microplastics as carriers of antibiotic resistance genes in aquatic environments, finding that plastic surfaces harbor higher densities of resistance genes than surrounding water. Biofilm formation on microplastics appears to facilitate horizontal gene transfer.
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.
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.
How microplastics and nanoplastics shape antibiotic resistance?
This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics act as vectors for antibiotic resistance genes, facilitating their spread through environmental and biological systems by creating selective pressure and hosting microbial communities that exchange resistance determinants.
Interaction between microplastic biofilm formation and antibiotics: Effect of microplastic biofilm and its driving mechanisms on antibiotic resistance gene
This review explores how microplastics in water environments develop biofilms that interact with antibiotics in concerning ways. Researchers found that biofilm-coated microplastics can enhance the adsorption of antibiotics and serve as hotspots for antibiotic resistance genes. The study highlights the risk that microplastic biofilms could accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance through aquatic ecosystems.
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.
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.
Conjugative antibiotic-resistant plasmids promote bacterial colonization of microplastics in water environments
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria carrying conjugative plasmids were shown to more effectively colonize microplastic surfaces in water environments, with plasmid transfer rates on plastic surfaces exceeding those in the surrounding water. The study identifies microplastics as hotspots for the spread of antibiotic resistance genes through horizontal gene transfer in aquatic systems.
Selective enrichment of bacterial pathogens by microplastic biofilm
Researchers incubated biofilms on microplastics and natural substrates in freshwater and found that microplastic surfaces selectively enriched bacterial pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes compared to rock and leaf surfaces. The study suggests that microplastics in waterways may serve as hotspots for harmful bacteria and contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment.
Microplastic-Mediated Transfer of Tetracycline Resistance: Unveiling the Role of Mussels in Marine Ecosystems
Researchers found that microplastics can serve as platforms for antibiotic-resistant bacteria to form biofilms in marine environments, facilitating the transfer of resistance genes. In experiments with mussels, polyethylene microplastics significantly increased the rate at which tetracycline resistance genes spread between bacteria. The findings raise concerns that microplastic pollution in the ocean could accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance, with implications for both ecosystem and public health.
Microplastic biofilm: An important microniche that may accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance genes via natural transformation
Researchers discovered that biofilms forming on microplastics can accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance genes through a process called natural transformation. They found that transformation rates on microplastic surfaces were up to 1,000 times higher than on natural substrates. The study suggests that microplastic pollution may create hotspots where bacteria more readily pick up and share genes for antibiotic resistance.
Antibiotic resistance in plastisphere
Researchers reviewed antibiotic resistance in the plastisphere — the microbial community colonizing plastic surfaces in aquatic environments — finding that plastic properties and aging influence the enrichment and horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes, and that aged microplastics pose elevated risks due to increased adsorption of resistant bacteria.
Decoding the microplastic Micro-interface: a complex Web of gene transfer and pathogenic threats in wastewater
Researchers used metagenomics to study how microplastic surfaces in wastewater treatment systems serve as hotspots for antibiotic resistance genes and pathogenic bacteria. They found that microplastic micro-interfaces supported more robust microbial networks and facilitated horizontal gene transfer of resistance and virulence genes more actively than surrounding environments. The study suggests that microplastics in wastewater may accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance and increase pathogenicity risks.