Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Study of the impact of ocean warming on the expression of virulence factors in Vibrio parahaemolyticus and the response of the host Exaiptasia pallida to infection

Rising ocean temperatures are making the foodborne pathogen Vibrio parahaemolyticus more virulent, and this study shows that microplastics may be amplifying the threat by serving as surfaces on which these bacteria colonize and spread. Using a sea anemone model, the researchers explored how ocean warming and microplastic-associated pathogens together stress marine organisms. This is significant because microplastics acting as 'pathogen vectors' could increase the risk of seafood-borne illness for humans as ocean conditions change.

2023 theses.fr (ABES)
Article Tier 2

Potential impact of marine-derived plastisphere as a Vibrio carrier on marine ecosystems: Current status and future perspectives

This review examines how microplastics in the ocean serve as floating platforms for Vibrio bacteria, which are significant pathogens threatening aquaculture and marine ecosystem health. Researchers found that the so-called plastisphere, the microbial community that colonizes plastic surfaces, can enhance the survival and spread of these harmful bacteria. The study highlights a concerning link between plastic pollution and the potential amplification of waterborne disease risks.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Sources and contamination routes of seafood with human pathogenic Vibrio spp.: A Farm‐to‐Fork approach

This review examines how Vibrio bacteria, which cause food poisoning, contaminate seafood from farm to table, emphasizing the role of environmental factors like climate change and pollution. While not directly about microplastics, the research is relevant because microplastic surfaces in water can harbor and transport pathogenic bacteria like Vibrio. Understanding these contamination pathways is important for ensuring the safety of seafood that people consume.

2023 Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety 55 citations
Article Tier 2

Dangerous hitchhikers? Evidence for potentially pathogenic Vibrio spp. on microplastic particles

Researchers tested whether marine microplastics carry potentially pathogenic Vibrio bacteria, finding Vibrio species on microplastic surfaces in seawater, raising concerns about plastics as vehicles for transporting harmful bacteria in marine environments.

2016 Marine Environmental Research 888 citations
Article Tier 2

Dangerous Hitchhikers? Evidence for Potentially Pathogenic Vibrio Spp. on Microplastic Particles

Researchers collected microplastic particles from the North and Baltic Seas and found potentially pathogenic Vibrio bacteria growing on their surfaces, raising the possibility that microplastics could transport dangerous human pathogens to new areas. Vibrio species can cause serious intestinal illness in humans through contaminated water or raw seafood consumption.

2015 Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar-und Meeresforschung (Alfred-Wegener-Institut)
Article Tier 2

Public health aspects of Vibrio spp. related to the consumption of seafood in the EU

This scientific opinion reviews how Vibrio bacteria in seafood cause illness in the EU, finding that about one in five seafood samples carries potentially harmful strains. While not directly about microplastics, rising ocean temperatures linked to climate change are expected to increase Vibrio contamination in seafood, compounding concerns about the safety of marine food sources.

2024 EFSA Journal 45 citations
Article Tier 2

Tools to Enumerate and Predict Distribution Patterns of Environmental Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus

This review synthesizes the current understanding of environmental factors driving the distribution of pathogenic Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus in aquatic environments. The study highlights various tools used to enumerate these bacteria and examines predictive models that incorporate temperature, salinity, and other ecological drivers to forecast Vibrio distribution patterns.

2023 Microorganisms 10 citations
Article Tier 2

Human Activity as a Growing Threat to Marine Ecosystems: Plastic and Temperature Effects on the Sponge Sarcotragus spinosulus

Researchers studied how plastic debris in the ocean acts as a surface for harmful Vibrio bacteria to grow on, and how rising water temperatures amplify stress on the marine sponge Sarcotragus spinosulus. The findings suggest that the combination of plastic pollution and warming seas creates compounding threats to marine organisms and the broader coastal ecosystem.

2025 Toxics 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessing biofilm formation and resistance of vibrio parahaemolyticus on UV-aged microplastics in aquatic environments

Researchers found that UV-weathered microplastics in seawater promote more bacterial biofilm growth than fresh microplastics, and that the food-poisoning bacterium Vibrio parahaemolyticus becomes more resistant to common disinfection methods when growing on these aged plastics. Bacteria on the UV-aged microplastics showed increased resistance to chlorine, heat, and even the harsh conditions of the human stomach. This means that microplastics weathered by sunlight in the ocean could make seafood-borne pathogens harder to kill, increasing food safety risks.

2024 Water Research 18 citations
Article Tier 2

Insight into the multifactorial effect of climate change on marine bacteria: resilience mechanisms and mitigation strategies

This review examines how multiple climate change factors — including ocean acidification, warming, deoxygenation, and anthropogenic pollutants including microplastics — interact to affect marine bacteria and their roles in biogeochemical cycling. The authors synthesize resilience mechanisms employed by marine bacteria and discuss mitigation strategies to preserve microbial ecosystem functions under accelerating environmental change.

2025 Critical Reviews in Microbiology
Article Tier 2

Enrichment and dissemination of bacterial pathogens by microplastics in the aquatic environment

This review examines how microplastics serve as floating platforms for dangerous bacteria in waterways, harboring pathogens like Vibrio and Pseudomonas at higher densities than surrounding water. Researchers found that bacteria can transfer between microplastic surfaces and water through mechanisms like horizontal gene transfer and chemical signaling. The findings raise concerns that microplastic pollution may be accelerating the spread of waterborne pathogens that threaten both ecosystem and human health.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 153 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2024 Discover Sustainability 15 citations
Article Tier 2

Impact of microplastics on microbial diversity and pathogen distribution in aquaculture ecosystems: A seasonal analysis

Researchers studied bacteria growing on microplastics in fish farming waters and found that in summer, these plastic-attached communities became more connected and harbored several disease-causing species including Vibrio. Microplastics in aquaculture act as floating habitats for harmful bacteria, and seasonal warming makes this worse, raising concerns about seafood safety and the spread of infections to humans.

2025 Environmental Pollution 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Vibrio Colonization Is Highly Dynamic in Early Microplastic-Associated Biofilms as Well as on Field-Collected Microplastics

Researchers found that Vibrio colonization on polyethylene and polystyrene microplastics is highly dynamic during the first 10 hours of biofilm formation, with Vibrio abundance and species composition varying irregularly both in laboratory incubations and on field-collected Baltic Sea microplastics, complicating assessments of microplastics as vectors for pathogenic bacteria.

2020 Microorganisms 90 citations
Article Tier 2

Machine learning to predict dynamic changes of pathogenic Vibrio spp. abundance on microplastics in marine environment

Researchers developed machine learning models to predict dynamic changes in pathogenic Vibrio bacteria abundance on microplastics in marine environments, finding that environmental factors like temperature and salinity significantly influence pathogen colonization on plastic surfaces.

2022 Environmental Pollution 39 citations
Article Tier 2

Vibrio spp and other potential pathogenic bacteria associated to microfibers in the North-Western Mediterranean Sea

Researchers found that floating microfibers in the northwestern Mediterranean Sea harbor diverse bacterial communities including potential pathogens like Vibrio species, demonstrating that microfibers serve as vectors for harmful bacteria in marine environments.

2022 PLoS ONE 33 citations
Article Tier 2

Bacterial biofilms colonizing plastics in estuarine waters, with an emphasis on Vibrio spp. and their antibacterial resistance

Scientists characterized bacterial biofilms colonizing plastic debris in estuarine waters, finding that plastics host distinct communities including Vibrio species with elevated antibiotic resistance compared to surrounding water.

2020 PLoS ONE 104 citations
Article Tier 2

Plastics and Microplastics as Vectors for Bacteria and Human Pathogens

This study reviewed how marine plastic debris serves as a surface for bacterial colonization, including human pathogens, and examined the novel communities forming on plastic surfaces. The research raises public health concerns about microplastics acting as rafts that transport harmful bacteria to new locations, including to seafood and coastal recreational areas.

2018 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in marine pollution: Oceanic hitchhikers for the global dissemination of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria

This review examines how marine microplastics serve as surfaces for biofilm formation by bacteria, including carbapenem-resistant strains, enabling the global dissemination of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria through ocean currents. The authors highlight the plastisphere as an understudied vector for spreading antibiotic resistance genes across marine environments.

2025 One Health 4 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2020 Infection Genetics and Evolution 16 citations
Article Tier 2

Marine Plastics from Norwegian West Coast Carry Potentially Virulent Fish Pathogens and Opportunistic Human Pathogens Harboring New Variants of Antibiotic Resistance Genes

Researchers isolated 37 bacterial strains from marine plastic polymers on Norway's west coast and used whole-genome sequencing to identify potential fish pathogens and opportunistic human pathogens carrying novel antibiotic resistance genes.

2020 Microorganisms 82 citations
Article Tier 2

First insight into how stress exposure triggers Vibrio harveyi recipient successful conjugation

Researchers discovered that environmental stressors including microplastics can trigger enhanced conjugation in the marine fish pathogen Vibrio harveyi, potentially accelerating horizontal gene transfer and the spread of antibiotic resistance and virulence genes in marine environments.

2023 Frontiers in Marine Science 6 citations
Article Tier 2

High diversity of Vibrio spp. associated with different ecological niches in a marine aquaria system and description of Vibrio aquimaris sp. nov

Researchers cultured Vibrio bacteria from multiple niches within a marine aquarium — including microplastic particles, sediment, detritus, and water — and found that microplastics hosted lower Vibrio diversity than water or detritus, while also identifying a novel Vibrio species (Vibrio aquimaris sp. nov.) from the plastic-associated isolates.

2020 Systematic and Applied Microbiology 23 citations
Article Tier 2

Pathogenic Hitchhikers on Microplastics: Ecological Risks and Gaps Gleaned from Two Decades of Research

This review examined two decades of research on pathogenic microorganisms associated with microplastics, identifying only 57 published studies on the topic. The most commonly reported pathogens found on microplastic surfaces were Vibrio species, with polyethylene and polypropylene being the polymer types most frequently associated with pathogen colonization, confirming that microplastics can serve as vectors for spreading disease-causing organisms in the environment.

2026 Journal of Engineering Environment and Agriculture Research