Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Insights on the inhibition of anaerobic digestion performances under short-term exposure of metal-doped nanoplastics via Methanosarcina acetivorans

The inhibitory effects of polystyrene nanoplastics on anaerobic digestion performance were investigated at the molecular level, focusing on methanogen-nanoplastic interactions in granular sludge. The study provided direct evidence that nanoplastics disrupt methane-producing archaea, identifying a mechanism by which nanoplastic contamination reduces biogas production from organic waste treatment.

2020 Environmental Pollution 34 citations
Article Tier 2

Exposure to polystyrene nanoplastic leads to inhibition of anaerobic digestion system

Researchers showed that polystyrene nanoplastics inhibit methane production in sewage sludge digesters in a concentration-dependent manner, reducing methane yield by up to 14% and delaying the process start-up while shifting microbial community composition away from key methane-producing archaea.

2017 The Science of The Total Environment 212 citations
Article Tier 2

Hydrophobic interaction between nanoplastics and surfactant antagonistically shielding the toxicity of surfactant to syntrophic methanogenesis

Researchers found that polypropylene nanoplastics can partially counteract the toxicity of the surfactant SDS on methane-producing microbial communities by acting as a hydrophobic carrier that sequesters SDS molecules and reduces their ability to damage microbial cell membranes.

2025 Journal of Environmental Management 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Uncovering the toxic effects and adaptive mechanisms of aminated polystyrene nanoplastics on microbes in sludge anaerobic digestion system: Insight from extracellular to intracellular

Researchers investigated how nanoplastics with amino functional groups affect the anaerobic digestion process used to treat sewage sludge. They found that these surface-modified nanoplastics reduced methane production and disrupted the microbial communities responsible for breaking down waste. The study reveals that chemically modified nanoplastics may be more disruptive to wastewater treatment processes than unmodified particles.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 23 citations
Article Tier 2

Evaluation the impact of polystyrene micro and nanoplastics on the methane generation by anaerobic digestion

Researchers tested the effect of polystyrene microplastics and their leached chemical additives on anaerobic digestion systems, finding that microplastic presence reduced methane generation efficiency and disrupted microbial community function.

2020 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 102 citations
Article Tier 2

Responses of methane production and methanogenic pathways to polystyrene nanoplastics exposure in paddy soil

Researchers examined how polystyrene nanoplastics affect methane production in paddy soil, which is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. They found that nanoplastics altered the microbial communities responsible for methane generation and shifted the dominant pathways used to produce the gas. The study suggests that nanoplastic contamination in rice paddies could influence greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural land.

2023 Journal of Hazardous Materials 16 citations
Article Tier 2

Size-dependent effects of polystyrene microplastics on anaerobic digestion performance of food waste: Focusing on oxidative stress, microbial community, key metabolic functions

Researchers investigated how polystyrene microplastics of different sizes affect anaerobic digestion of food waste and found that smaller particles caused greater inhibition of methane production, with reductions up to 33%. The study suggests that small microplastics induce more oxidative stress in microbial communities and suppress key enzymes involved in methane-producing metabolic pathways.

2022 Journal of Hazardous Materials 65 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and their mechanisms in influencing methane oxidation: A physiological and ecological perspective

This review examines the physiological and ecological mechanisms by which microplastics influence methane oxidation processes in the environment, synthesising current understanding of how ubiquitous plastic contamination may disrupt microbial communities responsible for mitigating methane — a greenhouse gas 20-30 times more potent than CO2.

2025 Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety
Article Tier 2

Growth and membrane stress responses in E. coli and Acinetobacter sp. upon exposure to functionalized polystyrene microplastics

Researchers exposed E. coli and Acinetobacter bacteria to polystyrene microplastics with different surface chemistries, finding that surface functionalization strongly influenced MP toxicity, with some functionalized particles disrupting bacterial membrane integrity and biofilm formation more than non-functionalized particles.

2025 Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
Article Tier 2

Polystyrene nanoparticles regulate microbial stress response and cold adaptation in mainstream anammox process at low temperature

Researchers found that polystyrene nanoplastics at concentrations above 0.5 mg/L significantly impair nitrogen removal by anammox bacteria (microbes that convert ammonia to nitrogen gas) in wastewater treatment, with nanoplastics inducing oxidative stress, damaging cell membranes, and binding to cold-shock proteins that are critical for low-temperature bacterial performance.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Colonization characteristics and dynamic transition of archaea communities on polyethylene and polypropylene microplastics in the sediments of mangrove ecosystems

Researchers found that microplastics in mangrove sediments host distinct communities of archaea (ancient microorganisms) that differ from those in surrounding sediments, with some species linked to increased methane production. The microbial communities on microplastic surfaces shifted over time and showed increased potential for methane emissions and changes in nitrogen cycling. This suggests that microplastic pollution in coastal wetlands could amplify greenhouse gas production and disrupt nutrient cycles that support these critical ecosystems.

2024 Journal of Hazardous Materials 19 citations
Article Tier 2

Charge-specific impacts of polystyrene nanoplastics on acidogenesis and biofilm adaptation in Ethanoligenens harbinense

Positively and negatively charged polystyrene nanoplastics had different effects on acidobacteria (a major group of soil bacteria), with charge-specific impacts on community composition and activity. The findings indicate that the surface chemistry of nanoplastics, not just their size, determines ecological impact.

2025 Bioresource Technology 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Distinct responses of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 exposed to different levels of polystyrene nanoplastics

Researchers examined the molecular mechanisms by which polystyrene nanoplastics affect Pseudomonas aeruginosa, finding dose-dependent responses in growth, metabolism, and virulence gene expression that reveal how nanoplastics interact with environmentally relevant bacteria.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 36 citations
Article Tier 2

Deciphering the inhibitory mechanisms of polystyrene microplastics on thermophilic methanogens from the insights of microbial metabolite profiling and metagenomic analyses

Researchers studied how polystyrene microplastics affect methane production during the thermophilic anaerobic digestion of food waste. They found that increasing microplastic concentrations reduced methane yield by up to 47.8%, driven by the accumulation of reactive oxygen species that inhibited key enzymes in the digestion process. Metagenomic analysis revealed that microplastics downregulated genes involved in methane metabolism, providing new insights into how plastic contamination can disrupt waste treatment systems.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Concentration-dependent effects of polystyrene microplastics on methanogenic activity and microbial community shifts in sewer sediment

This study tested how polystyrene microplastics affect methane-producing microbes in sewer sediments and found that low concentrations boosted methane production by over 200%, while higher concentrations had a smaller stimulating effect. The findings matter for wastewater management because microplastics entering sewer systems could alter greenhouse gas emissions and disrupt the microbial processes that treatment plants rely on.

2025 Bioresource Technology 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Polystyrene nanoplastics trigger changes in cell surface properties of freshwater and marine cyanobacteria

Polystyrene nanoplastics altered cell surface properties—including charge, hydrophobicity, and extracellular polymeric substance composition—in both freshwater and marine cyanobacteria without affecting growth or structure, suggesting cyanobacteria employ adaptive surface remodeling strategies to resist nanoplastic stress.

2025 Environmental Science Nano 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of polystyrene nanoplastics on extracellular polymeric substance composition of activated sludge: The role of surface functional groups

Researchers investigated how three types of polystyrene nanoplastics with different surface functional groups affect activated sludge used in wastewater treatment. All three types significantly reduced total protein production in the sludge and caused cellular oxidative stress and membrane damage, with positively charged particles causing the most harm. The findings suggest that nanoplastic contamination in wastewater could impair the biological processes essential for effective sewage treatment.

2021 Environmental Pollution 79 citations
Article Tier 2

Effects of unmodified and amine-functionalized polystyrene nanoplastics on nitrogen removal by Pseudomonas stutzeri: strain characteristics, extracellular polymers, and transcriptomics

Researchers investigated how two types of polystyrene nanoplastics — plain and amine-modified — affect the ability of bacteria to remove nitrogen from water, a process important for wastewater treatment. The amine-coated nanoplastics were found to be more disruptive than unmodified ones, altering the bacteria's cell surface, extracellular proteins, and gene expression. This matters because nanoplastics entering wastewater systems could undermine the biological processes that keep treated water safe to release into the environment.

2025 Environmental Science Nano 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Comparative evaluation of molecular mechanisms triggered by differently functionalized polystyrene nanoplastics in human colon cell lines

Researchers compared the molecular mechanisms triggered by polystyrene nanoplastics with different surface functionalization in human colon cell lines. The study examined how surface chemistry of nanoplastic particles influences their biological interactions with intestinal cells, contributing to understanding of how nanoplastics may affect the human gastrointestinal system.

2026 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Polystyrene nanoplastics reshape the anaerobic granular sludge for recovering methane from wastewater

Researchers investigated the long-term effects of polystyrene nanoplastics on anaerobic granular sludge used for methane recovery from wastewater over a 120-day continuous test. The study found that while low nanoplastic concentrations had minimal impact, higher concentrations reshaped the microbial community structure and altered sludge performance, raising concerns about nanoplastic effects on wastewater treatment processes.

2020 Water Research 170 citations
Article Tier 2

Interfacial Interactions between Escherichia coli and Polystyrene Nanoplastics: a Physicochemical Perspective

When nanoplastic particles encounter bacteria in the environment, the nature of that interaction affects how plastics move through ecosystems and whether they carry pathogens. This study examined how polystyrene nanoparticles (both plain and amine-modified) interact with E. coli at a physicochemical level, finding that attachment depended strongly on particle surface charge, pH, and concentration. The amine-modified particles bound more readily to bacterial surfaces and altered bacterial membranes, suggesting that surface chemistry—which changes as plastics weather in the environment—substantially influences the ecological behavior of nanoplastics and their potential to ferry microorganisms to new locations.

2026 The Journal of Physical Chemistry B
Article Tier 2

Polystyrene nanoplastics shape microbiome and functional metabolism in anaerobic digestion

Researchers studied how polystyrene nanoplastics and microplastics affect the microbial communities and biochemical processes in anaerobic digestion systems used for waste treatment. They found that nanoplastics had a more disruptive effect than microplastics, significantly altering the composition and metabolic functions of the microbial community. The study suggests that plastic contamination in waste streams could reduce the efficiency of anaerobic digestion, a widely used waste processing technology.

2022 Water Research 88 citations
Article Tier 2

Resilience and functional redundancy of methanogenic digestion microbiome safeguard recovery of methanogenesis activity under the stress induced by microplastics

Researchers studied how microplastics and nanoplastics affect the microbiome responsible for methane production during anaerobic digestion of wastewater sludge. The study found that while plastic particles initially disrupted methanogenesis, the microbial community showed resilience and functional redundancy that allowed methane production to recover over time.

2023 mLife 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Polystyrene nanoplastics change the functional traits of biofilm communities in freshwater environment revealed by GeoChip 5.0

Researchers found that polystyrene nanoplastics altered the functional traits of freshwater biofilm communities, changing their structure, metabolic activities, and gene expression related to carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycling.

2021 Journal of Hazardous Materials 38 citations