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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Fungi and Oomycetes–Allies in Eliminating Environmental Pathogens
ClearPlastic pollution and fungal, protozoan, and helminth pathogens – A neglected environmental and public health issue?
This review examines the understudied relationship between plastic pollution and eukaryotic pathogens, including fungi, protozoa, and helminths. Researchers found that while bacterial colonization of the plastisphere is well documented, evidence suggests plastics may also harbor and spread eukaryotic pathogens, raising concerns about a neglected public health and environmental issue.
The Role of Marine Fungi in Degradation of Microplastic and Plastics – a Review
This review examines the role of marine fungi in the biodegradation of microplastics and bulk plastics, synthesising literature on over 400 known plastic-degrading microorganism species and highlighting the most significant fungal groups capable of decomposing plastic materials in marine environments.
Nanoplastics and Fungi: Exploring Dual Roles in Degradation and Pathogenicity
This review examines the dual role of fungi in relation to nanoplastics: their capacity to enzymatically degrade plastic polymers as a bioremediation tool, and the risk that nanoplastics alter fungal pathogenicity. The authors find that nanoplastic exposure can affect fungal growth and virulence, creating complex interactions with important implications for ecosystems and human health.
Nanoplastics and fungi: exploring dual roles in degradation and pathogenicity
This review explores the dual relationship between fungi and nanoplastics, examining how fungi can break down plastic materials through specialized enzymes while also being harmed by nanoplastic exposure. Researchers found that nanoplastics can alter fungal metabolism, enhance virulence, and potentially contribute to antifungal resistance. The study calls for urgent research into how nanoplastic pollution may affect both fungal bioremediation potential and fungal pathogenicity in humans.
Fungal plastiphily and its link to generic virulence traits makes environmental microplastics a global health factor
This meta-analysis reveals that microplastics in soil serve as hotspots where disease-causing fungi accumulate and thrive. The findings are concerning because many of the fungi that colonize microplastics share traits with human pathogens, suggesting that plastic pollution may be creating new breeding grounds for infectious disease in the environment.
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.
Fungal Degradation of Microplastics—An Environmental Need
This review highlights fungi as an underexplored but promising tool for breaking down microplastics in the environment, noting that fungal enzymes can degrade plastics that bacteria struggle with. As conventional physical and chemical methods fall short of addressing the scale of microplastic pollution, fungal biodegradation could offer a practical, scalable complement to existing cleanup strategies.
Fungal plastiphily and its link to generic virulence traits makes environmental microplastics a global health factor
This meta-analysis reveals that fungi, including species that cause human infections, are attracted to microplastics in the environment. Microplastics provide tiny habitats where disease-causing fungi can accumulate and potentially evolve, suggesting that the trillions of microplastic particles in our environment may be increasing our exposure to fungal pathogens.
Current trends, limitations and future research in the fungi?
This broad review of modern mycology (the study of fungi) covers emerging fungal diseases, drug discovery from fungi, genomics advances, and how fungi can be used in construction and circular economies. While not directly about microplastics, some fungi show promise for biodegrading plastic waste, making mycology research relevant to addressing microplastic pollution.
Aquatic fungi: largely neglected targets for conservation
This paper argues that aquatic fungi are vastly understudied and underprotected, despite playing critical roles in decomposition, nutrient cycling, and food webs in freshwater and marine ecosystems. Aquatic fungi may be vulnerable to plastic pollution and other anthropogenic stressors but are not targeted by most conservation policies. Greater research attention and conservation action are needed for this largely neglected group.
An overview on role of fungi in systematic plastic degradation
This review examines the role of fungi in plastic degradation, surveying fungal species and enzymes capable of breaking down common polymers and discussing their potential for sustainable bioremediation of plastic pollution in the environment.
Using Fungi in Artificial Microbial Consortia to Solve Bioremediation Problems
Researchers reviewed the use of artificial microbial consortia containing fungi for cleaning up environmental contaminants including microplastics, heavy metals, dyes, and pesticides. They found that combining fungi with bacteria in engineered communities can enhance the breakdown of pollutants more effectively than single organisms working alone. The study suggests that fungal-based bioremediation consortia offer a promising eco-friendly strategy for tackling diverse types of environmental pollution.
Planktonic marine fungi: A review
This review summarizes the ecology of planktonic marine fungi, which play important roles as decomposers and parasites in ocean ecosystems. Marine fungi also colonize microplastic particles as part of the plastisphere, where they may contribute to plastic degradation.
The mycorrhizal symbiosis: research frontiers in genomics, ecology, and agricultural application
This review covers the latest advances in understanding mycorrhizal fungi, which form partnerships with plant roots to help them absorb nutrients and resist stress. While not directly about microplastics, mycorrhizal networks play a critical role in soil health, and research shows that microplastic contamination in soil can disrupt these beneficial fungal partnerships. Healthy mycorrhizal networks may also help buffer plants against some negative effects of soil pollutants, including microplastics.
Fungal Bioremediation of Microplastics
This review examines how fungi can be used for bioremediation of plastic pollution, covering the enzymes and metabolic pathways involved in fungal plastic degradation. Fungal approaches complement bacterial strategies and may offer unique capabilities for breaking down certain types of plastics in contaminated environments.
Microplastic effects in aquatic ecosystems with special reference to fungi–zooplankton interaction: identification of knowledge gaps and prioritization of research needs
This review identifies a largely unexplored gap in microplastic research: how plastic pollution affects aquatic fungi and their interactions with zooplankton. Because fungi play critical roles in breaking down dead organic matter and serving as food for zooplankton, disruptions caused by microplastics — which can physically resemble fungal spores in size — could have cascading effects on freshwater food webs and nutrient cycling. The authors call for targeted experiments to fill this knowledge gap and better predict ecosystem-level impacts of microplastic contamination.
Microplastics accumulate fungal pathogens in terrestrial ecosystems
Microplastics in terrestrial ecosystems serve as selective microhabitats that accumulate distinct fungal communities, including opportunistic human pathogens such as cryptococcal and Phoma-like species, making plastic waste a persistent reservoir and potential vector for fungal infections in soil environments.
The Potential Role of Marine Fungi in Plastic Degradation – A Review
This review examined the potential role of marine fungi in plastic degradation, highlighting that while terrestrial fungi can metabolize some plastic types, marine fungal-plastic interactions remain largely unexplored despite fungi's known ability to break down recalcitrant compounds.
Ecotoxicity of microplastic wastes and their sustainable management: A review
This review summarizes how microplastics damage ecosystems when organisms ingest them and absorb the toxic chemicals they carry, and examines microbial remediation as an emerging solution. Bacteria and fungi that can break down plastics offer a more environmentally friendly approach to reducing microplastic pollution, which is important because up to 14 million tons of plastic waste enters the oceans each year and enters the human food chain.
Earthworms Significantly Alter the Composition, Diversity, Abundance and Pathogen Load of Fungal Communities in Sewage Sludge from Different Urban Wastewater Treatment Plants
Earthworms exposed to microplastic-contaminated soil were found to significantly alter the composition, diversity, and abundance of potentially pathogenic soil bacteria, suggesting that earthworm bioturbation in MP-contaminated soils may have unintended effects on soil microbiome health.
Microorganisms: Promising approach to quench plastic pollution
This review surveys the range of bacteria and fungi — including Pseudomonas, Bacillus, and several fungal phyla — that are capable of degrading plastics including polyethylene, the world's most produced plastic. Microbial biodegradation is presented as a promising complement to physical and chemical recycling methods, with the potential to address plastic pollution already dispersed in the environment. Harnessing these organisms could eventually provide biological tools to break down plastic waste that has entered soils, waterways, and the ocean.
White Rot Fungi as Tools for the Bioremediation of Xenobiotics: A Review
This review examines how white rot fungi use specialized enzymes to break down a wide range of toxic pollutants including synthetic dyes, pesticides, and emerging contaminants like pharmaceuticals. While not specifically about microplastics, these same fungal enzymes are being explored as potential tools for biodegrading plastic waste in contaminated environments.
The genomes of Scedosporium between environmental challenges and opportunism
This paper is not about microplastics. It is a genomics study of Scedosporium fungi, comparing genomes of environmental and clinical strains to understand how these organisms transition from pollution-tolerant environmental inhabitants to opportunistic human pathogens. While the fungi were isolated from heavily polluted environments, the research focuses on fungal pathogenicity and antifungal resistance rather than microplastic contamination.
Fungal Bioremediation: A Sustainable Strategy for Microplastic Removal from Polluted Water
This review covers fungal bioremediation of microplastic pollution in water, examining how various fungal species degrade plastic polymers, the mechanisms involved (enzymatic oxidation, biofilm formation), and the feasibility of scaling these biological approaches for water treatment applications.