Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

The effects of Micro/Nano-plastics exposure on plants and their toxic mechanisms: A review from multi-omics perspectives.

A multi-omics review of micro/nanoplastic effects on plants found that plastic exposure disrupts gene expression, protein function, and metabolic pathways across multiple plant systems, with potential consequences for crop yield and agricultural food safety.

2024 Journal of hazardous materials
Article Tier 2

Unveiling the impact of microplastics and nanoplastics on vascular plants: A cellular metabolomic and transcriptomic review

This review summarizes how microplastics and nanoplastics affect plant health at the cellular and genetic level, disrupting metabolism, nutrient uptake, and growth in vascular plants. Since contaminated crops are a pathway for microplastics to enter the human diet, understanding how plants absorb and respond to these particles is important for food safety.

2024 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 35 citations
Article Tier 2

The Role of Omics Technology in Evaluating Plastic Pollution’s Effects on Plants: A Comprehensive Review

This comprehensive review examines how omics technologies (genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics) are being applied to understand the molecular mechanisms by which micro- and nanoplastics damage plants, including oxidative stress, stunted growth, and disrupted soil microbiomes.

2025 International Journal of Molecular Sciences
Review Tier 2

Unveiling the mechanism of micro-and-nano plastic phytotoxicity on terrestrial plants: A comprehensive review of omics approaches.

This comprehensive review examined how micro-and-nano plastics (MNPs) in terrestrial soils damage plant health by inhibiting water and nutrient uptake, reducing seed germination, impairing photosynthesis, and inducing oxidative stress. The review identified key knowledge gaps in understanding MNP phytotoxicity mechanisms and their implications for food security.

2025 Environment international
Article Tier 2

Micro (nano) plastics uptake, toxicity and detoxification in plants: Challenges and prospects

This review examines how micro and nanoplastics are taken up by plants, covering their toxic effects on growth and gene expression as well as potential detoxification strategies. Smaller nanoplastics can penetrate plant cell walls and accumulate in tissues, causing oxidative stress and genetic damage. The findings are important for human health because contaminated crops could transfer microplastics directly into the food supply.

2023 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 39 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in soil–plant systems: impacts on soil health, plant toxicity, and multiomics insights

This review synthesizes current knowledge on how microplastics affect soil health and plant growth in agricultural systems, with insights from advanced omics technologies. Researchers found that microplastics degrade soil structure, disrupt nutrient cycles, alter microbial communities, and can be taken up by plant roots, triggering oxidative stress and impaired growth. The study highlights how transcriptomics, metabolomics, and proteomics are revealing the molecular-level stress responses plants mount against microplastic exposure.

2025 Plant Cell Reports 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as emerging stressors in plants: biochemical and metabolic responses

This review examines how microplastics act as environmental stressors in plants, disrupting biochemical and metabolic processes including photosynthesis, antioxidant defenses, and nutrient uptake, with effects varying by polymer type, particle size, and concentration.

2025 Environmental Geochemistry and Health
Article Tier 2

Micro and nanoplastics pollution: Sources, distribution, uptake in plants, toxicological effects, and innovative remediation strategies for environmental sustainability

This review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics enter plants through roots, disrupt growth and photosynthesis, and cause oxidative stress that reduces crop yields. Because these plastic particles can move through plant tissues and into edible parts, they represent a potential pathway for microplastics to enter the human food supply.

2024 Plant Physiology and Biochemistry 62 citations
Article Tier 2

Multi-omics analysis reveals the molecular responses of Torreya grandis shoots to nanoplastic pollutant

Researchers used multi-omics analysis to examine how polystyrene nanoplastics affect Torreya grandis, an economically important tree species in China. They found that nanoplastic exposure disrupted the seedlings' metabolism and gene expression, particularly affecting pathways related to photosynthesis and stress responses. The study provides some of the first evidence that nanoplastic pollution can interfere with the molecular processes of higher terrestrial plants, not just aquatic organisms.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 63 citations
Article Tier 2

Exploring omics solutions to reduce micro/nanoplastic toxicity in plants: A comprehensive overview

This review summarizes how advanced biological analysis techniques are being used to understand how micro- and nanoplastics harm crops by disrupting water uptake, nutrient absorption, and photosynthesis. Since these tiny plastic particles accumulate in agricultural soil and can enter the food chain, the research highlights a potential pathway for microplastics to reach humans through the food we eat.

2025 The Science of The Total Environment 10 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Nano- and microplastics commonly cause adverse impacts on plants at environmentally relevant levels: A systematic review

Systematic review of 78 studies found that nano- and microplastics commonly cause adverse effects on plants even at environmentally relevant concentrations, with germination and root growth more strongly affected than shoot growth during early development. Chlorophyll levels were consistently reduced while stress indicators (ROS) and antioxidant enzymes were consistently upregulated across species.

2023 The Science of The Total Environment 100 citations
Article Tier 2

Occurrence and distribution of micro/nanoplastics in soils and their phytotoxic effects: A review

This review examined how micro- and nanoplastics distribute across different soil types and get taken up by plant roots, finding that smaller, spherical particles are absorbed more easily. Researchers found that these plastic particles accumulate in plants and trigger oxidative stress, which disrupts gene expression and metabolic pathways important for plant growth and biomass production.

2022 Plant Cell & Environment 101 citations
Article Tier 2

Integrated physiological, metabolomic, and transcriptomic responses of maize (Zea mays) and soybean (Glycine max) to nanoplastic-induced stress

Researchers exposed maize and soybean crops to polyethylene and polypropylene nanoplastics in soil and found that high concentrations suppressed plant growth and caused oxidative stress in both species. The nanoplastics accumulated in plant roots and disrupted normal gene activity and metabolism, with soybeans being more sensitive than maize. These findings raise concerns about food crop quality and safety as nanoplastic contamination of agricultural soil increases.

2025 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Multi-omics analysis reveals immune responses in tobacco leaves treated with polyethylene nanoparticles

Researchers found that polyethylene nanoplastics rapidly triggered immune-like defense responses in tobacco plant leaves, including stomatal closure, increased reactive oxygen species, and activation of defense genes. Multi-omics analysis revealed that the plants recognized nanoplastics similarly to how they recognize pathogen threats, suggesting that nanoplastic contamination can activate innate immune pathways in plant tissues.

2026 Plant Physiology and Biochemistry
Article Tier 2

Microplastic/nanoplastic toxicity in plants: an imminent concern

This review examines the growing body of research on how microplastics and nanoplastics affect terrestrial plants, from root uptake to changes in growth and gene expression. Researchers found that these particles can alter plant physiology and biochemistry at varying degrees depending on particle size and concentration. The study calls for more research on how plastic contamination in soil may ultimately affect food crop quality and human health through the food chain.

2022 Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 182 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastic toxicity induces metabolic shifts in Populus × euramericana cv. '74/76' revealed by multi-omics analysis

Researchers used transcriptomic and metabolomic profiling to show that polystyrene nanoplastics accumulate in poplar tree roots, penetrate chloroplasts in leaves causing photosynthesis disruption, and trigger a metabolic shift from normal growth to defensive flavonoid production under severe exposure conditions.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 21 citations
Meta Analysis Tier 1

Toxic effects of microplastics and nanoplastics on plants: A global meta-analysis

This meta-analysis of 101 studies found that micro- and nanoplastics negatively affect plant physiology, with polyethylene terephthalate (PET) showing the strongest impact on fresh weight, chlorophyll, and reactive oxygen species. Microplastics inhibited most growth and photosynthetic indicators more strongly than nanoplastics, and exposure consistently triggered increased biochemical stress enzyme activity.

2023 Environmental Pollution 46 citations
Article Tier 2

Multi-omics analyses reveal the responses of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and rhizosphere bacterial community to nano(micro)plastics stress

Researchers used multi-omics analysis to investigate how nano- and microplastics of different types and sizes affect wheat plants and the bacterial communities in their root zone. They found that smaller nanoplastics caused more severe disruptions to plant gene expression and soil microbiome composition than larger microplastics. The study reveals that plastic particle size is a critical factor determining the severity of impacts on agricultural systems.

2024 Journal of Nanobiotechnology 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Multiomics Insights into the Ecotoxicological Effects of Soil Microplastics on Crop Plants

This review summarizes two decades of research on how soil microplastics affect crop plants, drawing on multiomics approaches including genomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics. Researchers found that microplastics absorbed by crop roots and leaves can travel to reproductive organs, causing oxidative stress, genotoxicity, and disrupted nutrient uptake and photosynthesis. The study highlights that microplastic concentrations in intensive farming regions have reached significant levels.

2026 Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Article Tier 2

Understanding the possible cellular responses in plants under micro(nano)-plastic (MNPs): Balancing the structural harmony with functions.

This review summarizes current understanding of how micro- and nano-plastics affect plant physiology, covering uptake pathways, effects on cell walls and chloroplasts, and responses to oxidative stress. The findings highlight that plants are exposed to and affected by microplastics through both soil and aerial routes.

2024 The Science of the total environment
Article Tier 2

Effects of nanoplastics on the growth, transcription, and metabolism of rice (Oryza sativa L.) and synergistic effects in the presence of iron plaque and humic acid

This study examined how nanoplastics affect rice plant growth, finding that the tiny particles were absorbed by roots and entered plant cells. Nanoplastic exposure reduced important enzyme activity and protein levels in roots, disrupting normal plant metabolism. The presence of iron plaque and humic acid in the soil changed how much nanoplastic the plants took up, suggesting that real-world soil conditions play a key role in how crops are affected.

2024 Environmental Pollution 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Multi-omics reveals microplastics disrupt nitrogen assimilation in hydrophytes

Researchers used multi-omics approaches to investigate how microplastics and nanoplastics disrupt nitrogen assimilation pathways in hydrophytes, finding that plastic particle exposure impairs the nutrient removal function these aquatic plants provide in eutrophic water bodies.

2025 Environmental Science Nano
Article Tier 2

Impacts of non-spherical polyethylene nanoplastics on microbial communities and antibiotic resistance genes in the rhizosphere of pea (Pisum sativum L.): An integrated metagenomic and metabolomic analysis

Researchers exposed pea plants to non-spherical polyethylene nanoplastics at 0, 20, and 200 mg/kg, finding that high doses significantly inhibited plant growth, restructured rhizosphere microbial communities, and elevated antibiotic resistance gene abundance via integrated metagenomics and metabolomics.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials
Article Tier 2

Adsorption, uptake and toxicity of micro- and nanoplastics: Effects on terrestrial plants and aquatic macrophytes

This review summarizes research on how micro- and nanoplastics interact with terrestrial plants and aquatic macrophytes, finding that many species can absorb or take up plastic particles. Both short-term and long-term plastic exposure triggered stress responses in plants, and since plants are at the base of food chains and a major part of the human diet, there is concern about plastics moving up through the food web. The findings suggest that plastic pollution could potentially affect plant productivity and broader ecosystem function.

2021 Environmental Pollution 218 citations