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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Environmental stress promotes the persistence of facultative bacterial symbionts in amoebae
ClearNano- and microplastics drive the dynamic equilibrium of amoeba-associated bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes
Researchers investigated how nano- and microplastics of varying sizes affect the relationship between amoebas and their symbiotic bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant strains. They found that plastic particles disrupted the amoeba-bacteria balance, promoting the survival and spread of antibiotic resistance genes. The study raises concerns that microplastic pollution could contribute to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance in the environment.
Complex Bilateral Interactions Determine the Fate of Polystyrene Micro- and Nanoplastics and Soil Protists: Implications from a Soil Amoeba
Researchers investigated how polystyrene micro- and nanoplastics interact with a soil amoeba (Dictyostelium discoideum). The study found that even environmentally relevant concentrations of nano- and microplastics negatively affected the amoeba's fitness and development. The findings suggest complex bilateral interactions where protists can also influence the fate and distribution of plastic particles in soil environments.
Symbiotic state affects microbiome recovery in a facultatively symbiotic cnidarian
Despite its title referencing symbiotic state and microbiome recovery, this paper studies how algal symbionts influence bacterial community recovery in sea anemones after antibiotic treatment — not microplastic pollution. It examines host immune responses and microbiome dynamics in a marine invertebrate model organism and is not relevant to microplastics or human health.
Testate amoebae: a review on their multiple uses as bioindicators
This review evaluated testate amoebae as bioindicators across a wide range of environmental conditions, finding these unicellular protozoans are sensitive, globally distributed monitors useful for biomonitoring wetlands, soils, and freshwater systems including detecting microplastic contamination.
Microplastic contamination reduces productivity in a widespread freshwater photosymbiosis
Researchers investigated the effects of microplastic contamination on the freshwater photosymbiosis between Paramecium bursaria and Chlorella algae, finding that microplastic exposure reduced growth rate, symbiont density, metabolic rate, and feeding rate, suggesting that freshwater photosymbioses are vulnerable to plastic pollution similarly to marine associations.
Soil physical structure drives N-glycan mediated trophic interactions in soil amoebae: Mechanisms and environmental implications.
Soil texture was found to influence how amoeba predation interacts with microplastics and other environmental pollutants in soil, suggesting that physical soil structure shapes the ecological effects of contamination. The findings help explain why microplastic impacts on soil organisms may vary significantly between different soil types and agricultural settings.
Do microplastics dramatically shape the homogeneity of protozoan colonization in marine environments?
Researchers exposed protozoan assemblages to a gradient of microplastic concentrations in marine environments to investigate whether MPs shape the homogeneity of protozoan colonization patterns. The results provide insights into how MP pollution alters microbial community structure and the energy transfer roles of protozoa across trophic levels in marine ecosystems.
Effects of microplastics on Daphnia-associated microbiomes in situ and in vitro
This study investigated how microplastic exposure alters the microbiome associated with Daphnia in freshwater, finding shifts in bacterial community composition that may affect host health and ecological function. The results suggest that microplastics can indirectly harm zooplankton by disrupting their microbial symbionts.
Nanoplastics diversify and reshape Daphnia microbiomes in parasite-infected and uninfected hosts
Scientists exposed water fleas (Daphnia magna) to polystyrene nanoplastics of two sizes, with and without a yeast parasite infection, and analyzed changes in their gut and body microbiomes. The smallest nanoplastics at the highest concentration caused the most dramatic shifts in bacterial communities, with effects that exceeded those caused by the parasite alone. The results suggest that nanoplastic pollution could fundamentally reshape the beneficial microbes that aquatic organisms depend on for their health.
Microbial Dynamics on Different Microplastics in Coastal Urban Aquatic Ecosystems: The Critical Roles of Extracellular Polymeric Substances
Researchers investigated how microbial communities colonize different types of microplastics in urban coastal waters, forming distinct ecosystems known as plastispheres. They found that the type of plastic significantly shaped which bacteria grew on it and how much sticky extracellular material they produced. Understanding these microbial communities on microplastics matters because they can harbor harmful bacteria and influence how pollutants move through aquatic environments.
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.
Nanoplastics modulate the outcome of a zooplankton–microparasite interaction
Researchers found that nanoplastics can alter the outcome of zooplankton-microparasite interactions, demonstrating that plastic pollution at the nanoscale may disrupt host-parasite dynamics in freshwater ecosystems with cascading ecological effects.
Can Microplastic Pollution Change Important Aquatic Bacterial Communities?
Microplastics in coastal sediments can change the composition of important bacterial communities that cycle nutrients and maintain ecosystem health. Microplastic-associated bacteria differ significantly from natural sediment bacteria, with potential consequences for the chemical processes these communities perform.
The evolution of bacterial pathogens in the Anthropocene
Researchers reviewed how anthropogenic environmental changes — including plastic pollution — may accelerate bacterial pathogen evolution by altering mutation rates, horizontal gene transfer, and selection pressures, using the microplastic plastisphere as a case study for how pollution can drive microbial diversification with implications for human infection risk.
Microplastics drive community dynamics of periphytic protozoan fauna in marine environments
Researchers exposed marine protozoan communities to varying concentrations of microplastics and tracked how the communities changed over time. They found that higher microplastic concentrations reduced species diversity and shifted community composition toward more pollution-tolerant species. The study demonstrates that microplastic pollution can reshape the structure of microscopic marine communities, with potential cascading effects up the food web.
Antibiotic resistant bacteria colonising microplastics in the aquatic environment: An emerging challenge
Researchers reviewed how microplastics in aquatic environments act as surfaces where antibiotic-resistant bacteria can grow and swap resistance genes with each other, raising concern that contaminated seafood and water could transfer these hard-to-treat bacteria to humans.
Environmental Factors Support the Formation of Specific Bacterial Assemblages on Microplastics
Researchers incubated polystyrene, polyethylene, and wooden pellets across marine and freshwater environments and found that environmental conditions — more than plastic type — drove the formation of specific bacterial communities on microplastics, with plastic-specific assemblages only emerging under certain conditions.
Uniqueness and Dependence of Bacterial Communities on Microplastics: Comparison with Water, Sediment, and Soil
Researchers compared bacterial communities on microplastics with those in water, sediment, and soil in the Three Gorges Reservoir area, finding that microplastic-associated communities are unique in composition and ecological function compared to surrounding environments.
Ingested microplastics impair the metabolic relationship between the giant clam Tridacna crocea and its symbionts
Researchers found that microplastic ingestion disrupted the symbiotic relationship between the giant clam Tridacna crocea and its photosynthetic zooxanthellae, reducing photosynthate transfer to the host and impairing clam growth and metabolic function in coral reef ecosystems.
Deciphering the pathogenic risks of microplastics as emerging particulate organic matter in aquatic ecosystem
Researchers compared how microplastics and natural organic matter like leaves and algae affect bacterial communities in aquatic environments. The study found that microplastics uniquely promoted pathogenic bacteria as keystone species and amplified their capacity to host antibiotic resistance genes, suggesting that microplastic pollution may pose distinct pathogenic risks beyond those of natural particles.
Polystyrene-degrading bacteria modulate host stress and toxicity responses to microplastic exposure in Caenorhabditis elegans
Scientists studied how gut bacteria affect the health impacts of microplastics (tiny plastic particles) using lab worms as a model. They found that different types of plastic-eating bacteria in the gut can either make microplastic exposure more harmful or help protect against it. This research suggests that the specific mix of bacteria in our intestines might influence how dangerous microplastics are to our health.
Evidence of interspecific plasmid uptake by pathogenic strains of Klebsiella isolated from microplastic pollution on public beaches
Researchers collected microplastic beads from public beaches and found them colonized by pathogenic strains of Klebsiella bacteria carrying antimicrobial resistance genes. They demonstrated that these bacteria could take up plasmids from other species, potentially spreading antibiotic resistance. The findings suggest that microplastics on beaches may serve as hotspots where dangerous bacteria exchange genetic material that makes them harder to treat.
The ecology of the plastisphere: Microbial composition, function, assembly, and network in the freshwater and seawater ecosystems
Researchers studied the communities of bacteria and fungi that colonize microplastic surfaces in freshwater and seawater, forming what scientists call the plastisphere. These microplastic-associated communities were distinctly different from those in surrounding water, and included a higher proportion of disease-causing organisms and species involved in pollutant degradation. The findings suggest that microplastics create new habitats that can harbor pathogens and alter natural microbial ecosystems in ways that may affect water quality and human health.
Culturing the Plastisphere: comparing methods to isolate culturable bacteria colonising microplastics
Researchers compared culturing methods for isolating bacteria from the plastisphere (plastic-colonizing microbial communities), finding that method choice strongly influences which bacterial taxa are recovered and that standardization is needed to better assess pathogen and resistance gene enrichment on microplastics.