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Papers
20 resultsShowing papers similar to Unveiling the hidden world of microorganisms and their impact on the Earth's ecosystems
ClearDiscovering untapped microbial communities through metagenomics for microplastic remediation: recent advances, challenges, and way forward
This review explores how metagenomic approaches are uncovering microbial communities capable of degrading microplastics in various environments. Researchers found that diverse bacteria and fungi in soil, water, and waste systems produce enzymes that can break down plastic polymers, though degradation rates remain slow. The study highlights metagenomics as a powerful tool for discovering new biological solutions to microplastic pollution.
Unlocking secrets of microbial ecotoxicology: recent achievements and future challenges
This review explores how microorganisms interact with environmental pollutants, including microplastics, covering how bacteria can break down pollutants but are also harmed by them. The authors highlight that microplastics create new surfaces in the environment where bacteria form communities, potentially spreading harmful species or antibiotic resistance. Understanding these microbial interactions is critical for developing nature-based solutions to reduce pollution and protect human health.
Microplastic pollution: Understanding microbial degradation and strategies for pollutant reduction
This review explores how microplastics form, spread through ecosystems, and affect microbial communities, then examines how certain microorganisms can actually break down these plastic particles. Understanding microbial degradation of microplastics could lead to biotechnology solutions that reduce the amount of plastic pollution entering the food chain and ultimately the human body.
Review of microplastic degradation: Understanding metagenomic approaches for microplastic degrading organisms
This review explores how metagenomics, the study of genetic material from environmental samples, is helping scientists identify microorganisms that can break down plastics. The paper covers the methods used to find and characterize plastic-degrading bacteria, as well as the environmental consequences of plastic degradation including health risks from inhaling and ingesting microplastics. While biological solutions to plastic pollution show promise, the review notes that more research is needed to develop effective, scalable approaches.
Unveiling microplastic's role in nitrogen cycling: Metagenomic insights from estuarine sediment microcosms
Researchers used metagenomic analysis to examine how polyethylene and polystyrene microplastics affect nitrogen cycling in estuarine sediments. They found that microplastics altered the abundance of genes involved in key nitrogen transformation processes like nitrification and denitrification. The study reveals that microplastic pollution in estuaries may disrupt important biogeochemical cycles that support aquatic ecosystem health.
Microplastic biofilms as potential hotspots for plastic biodegradation and nitrogen cycling: a metagenomic perspective
Researchers used genetic analysis to study the microbial communities that form biofilms on different types of microplastics in an estuarine environment. They found that these plastic-associated communities contained genes for both plastic degradation and nitrogen cycling, suggesting the biofilms may play dual roles in the ecosystem. The study indicates that microplastic surfaces in waterways create unique microbial habitats that could influence both pollution breakdown and nutrient processing.
Investigating the roles of microbes in biodegrading or colonizing microplastic surfaces
Researchers investigated the roles of microbes in biodegrading or colonizing microplastic surfaces, examining how microbial communities interact with plastic polymers in environmental settings. The study characterized the 'plastisphere' — the community of microorganisms that colonize microplastic surfaces — and assessed the extent to which microbial activity contributes to plastic degradation in natural environments.
Effects of microplastics on soil microorganisms and microbial functions in nutrients and carbon cycling – A review
This review examines how microplastics in soil alter the communities of bacteria and fungi that are essential for recycling nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and carbon. Microplastics can increase certain beneficial bacteria but decrease others that are important for soil fertility, and they also carry toxic chemicals that further disrupt microbial life. The authors note that most studies are short-term lab experiments, and long-term field studies are needed to understand real-world impacts.
Is soft-sediments ecosystem service delivery compromised due to microplastic pollution?
This review examines how microplastic pollution may compromise ecosystem service delivery in soft-sediment habitats, focusing on potential impacts on microphytobenthic microbial communities that underpin nutrient cycling, sediment stabilization, and food web productivity. The authors argue that because soft sediments act as microplastic sinks, their resident microbial communities face disproportionate exposure, and call for holistic research linking microplastic effects on microbial diversity and biogeochemical function to broader ecosystem service outcomes.
[Interaction between microplastics and microorganisms in soil environment: a review].
This review examines how microplastics alter soil microbial community structure and diversity, and how microorganisms in turn colonize plastic surfaces and degrade them through extracellular enzymes — with degradation efficiency dependent on polymer properties and environmental conditions.
The threat of microplastics and microbial degradation potential; a current perspective
This review covers the growing threat of microplastics in marine environments, where they enter the food chain and can transfer to humans along with pathogenic organisms, causing various toxic effects. The paper also explores how bacteria and fungi found in ocean environments could be harnessed to biodegrade different types of plastics as a future strategy for reducing microplastic pollution.
Plastisphere - a new habitat of microbial community: Composition, structure and ecological consequences
This review examines the plastisphere — microbial communities colonizing microplastics — covering the composition and structure of plastisphere microbiomes across marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments and discussing ecological consequences including pathogen dispersal.
The impacts of microplastics on the cycling of carbon and nitrogen in terrestrial soil ecosystems: Progress and prospects
This review examines how microplastics in soil affect the cycling of carbon and nitrogen, two elements essential for plant growth and soil health. Microplastics alter soil microbial communities and enzyme activity in ways that change greenhouse gas emissions and nutrient availability, which could ultimately affect crop production and the food supply.
Soil under stress: The importance of soil life and how it is influenced by (micro)plastic pollution
This review examines how plastic pollution in soil disrupts soil organisms and microorganisms that regulate essential ecosystem functions, finding that plastic alters soil chemistry, physical structure, and microbial communities in ways that threaten primary production and carbon cycling.
Exploring the Microbiome of the Marine Microplastisphere
This review examines the microbiome associated with microplastic particles in marine environments, known as the microplastisphere, describing it as a dynamic and complex ecosystem with significant ecological implications. Researchers found that the microplastisphere harbors distinct microbial communities distinct from surrounding seawater, with potential consequences for marine biodiversity and pollutant transport.
The prevalence of microplastics on the earth and resulting increased imbalances in biogeochemical cycling
This study examines how microplastics are disrupting natural biogeochemical cycles, finding that plastic particles can block elemental transfers between reservoirs and create novel shortcuts in nutrient cycling, altering the flow of matter and energy through Earth's ecosystems.
Microplastics as a New Ecological Niche For Multispecies Microbial Biofilms within the Plastisphere
This review examines microplastics as a novel ecological niche — the 'plastisphere' — analyzing how multispecies microbial biofilms colonize plastic surfaces, differ from surrounding environmental communities, and may facilitate biodegradation and horizontal gene transfer.
Plastisphere microbiome: Methodology, diversity, and functionality
This review explores the plastisphere, the community of microorganisms that colonize plastic debris in the environment. The authors cover methods for studying these microbial communities, the diversity of organisms found living on plastics, and their functional roles including potential plastic degradation and pathogen harboring. Understanding the plastisphere is important because these microbial communities can influence how plastics break down and what health risks plastic pollution may pose.
Effects of micro(nano)plastics on soil nutrient cycling: State of the knowledge.
This review systematically examined how micro- and nano-plastics affect soil nutrient cycling for carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus, finding that physical interference with soil structure, alteration of microbial communities, and chemical toxicity collectively disrupt mineralization, nitrification, and phosphorus availability in contaminated soils.
Dynamics and functions of microbial communities in the plastisphere in temperate coastal environments
Researchers explored microbial communities colonizing microplastics in coastal environments of Japan, comparing bacterial and fungal communities across different plastic types, water, sediment, and sand. The study found that while microbial communities varied by sample type and location rather than plastic shape, microplastics harbored hydrocarbon-degrading organisms as well as potential pathogens, highlighting the ecological significance of plastic-associated biofilms.