Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Microplastics and their role in the emergence of antibiotic resistance in bacteria as a threat for the environment

Researchers reviewed how microplastics act as breeding grounds for antibiotic-resistant bacteria by providing surfaces where bacteria can swap resistance genes with each other — a process called horizontal gene transfer. This dual threat of plastic pollution and antibiotic resistance is compounding into a significant global public health crisis.

2025 Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Unraveling the effect of micro/nanoplastics on the occurrence and horizontal transfer of environmental antibiotic resistance genes: Advances, mechanisms and future prospects

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics promote the spread of antibiotic resistance genes in the environment. The tiny plastic particles create conditions that help bacteria exchange resistance genes more easily by generating oxidative stress, making cell membranes more permeable, and providing surfaces where resistant bacteria can form communities. This is a growing public health concern because antibiotic-resistant infections are increasingly difficult to treat.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 20 citations
Article Tier 2

A review on the effect of micro- and nano-plastics pollution on the emergence of antimicrobial resistance

This review highlights how microplastics serve as breeding grounds for antimicrobial resistance genes, examining the overlooked interaction between plastic pollution and antibiotic resistance that poses combined threats to environmental and human health.

2022 Chemosphere 34 citations
Article Tier 2

[Influencing Factors and Mechanisms of Antibiotic Resistance Gene Enrichment by Microplastics in the Environment].

This review examines how microplastics in the environment serve as carriers for antibiotic resistance genes, enriching and spreading resistant bacteria across air, soil, water, and sediments. Researchers found that the type, surface characteristics, and aging of microplastics all influence how effectively they accumulate resistance genes and facilitate horizontal gene transfer. The findings highlight the need to consider microplastics as an important vector in the environmental spread of antibiotic resistance.

2026 PubMed
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and antibiotic resistance genes as rising threats: Their interaction represents an urgent environmental concern

This review examines how microplastics interact with antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the environment, creating a combined pollution threat. Microplastics can absorb antibiotics onto their surface and serve as platforms where bacteria exchange resistance genes. This interaction could accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance, making infections harder to treat and posing a growing public health risk.

2025 Current Research in Microbial Sciences 6 citations
Article Tier 2

How micro-/nano-plastics influence the horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes - A review

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics help spread antibiotic resistance genes between bacteria -- a major global health threat. The tiny plastic particles can act as platforms where bacteria exchange DNA carrying drug-resistance instructions, potentially making infections harder to treat. The effect depends on the type, size, and concentration of plastics, and has been documented in sewage, livestock farms, and landfills.

2024 The Science of The Total Environment 22 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and Their Role in the Maintenance and Spread of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Marine Ecosystems

This review examines the role of microplastics in maintaining and spreading antibiotic resistance genes in marine ecosystems, synthesizing evidence that plastic pollution in aquatic environments creates reservoirs for antimicrobial resistant bacteria and facilitates horizontal gene transfer.

2022 Antibiot Khimioter = Antibiotics and Chemotherapy 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics as emerging reservoirs of antimicrobial resistance: Clinical relevance and environmental mechanisms

This review examines how microplastics act as environmental reservoirs for antibiotic resistance genes, creating selective microenvironments through antibiotic and metal adsorption, biofilm formation, and horizontal gene transfer, with potential pathways to clinical human exposure.

2025 Journal of Clinical and Experimental Investigations
Article Tier 2

Current examining methods and mathematical models of horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes in the environment

This review examines the methods used to study how antibiotic resistance genes spread between bacteria in the environment through a process called horizontal gene transfer. While not specifically about microplastics, this is directly relevant because microplastics have been shown to serve as platforms that promote the transfer of antibiotic resistance genes between bacteria, potentially accelerating the spread of drug-resistant infections.

2024 Frontiers in Microbiology 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics are a hotspot for antibiotic resistance genes: Progress and perspective

This review examines growing evidence that microplastics serve as hotspots for antibiotic resistance genes in the environment. Researchers found that microplastics selectively accumulate antibiotic-resistant bacteria and resistance genes on their surfaces across wastewater, aquatic, and terrestrial environments. The dense bacterial communities and concentrated pollutants on microplastic surfaces create favorable conditions for the spread and evolution of antibiotic resistance, raising concerns about potential risks to human health.

2021 The Science of The Total Environment 244 citations
Article Tier 2

Determining the Contribution of Micro/Nanoplastics to Antimicrobial Resistance: Challenges and Perspectives

This review examines how microplastics in the environment serve as surfaces where antibiotic-resistant bacteria can grow and exchange resistance genes, potentially worsening the global antimicrobial resistance crisis. Researchers found that the unique surface properties of micro- and nanoplastics create favorable conditions for the spread of antibiotic resistance genes among microorganisms. The study highlights that microplastic pollution and antibiotic resistance are interconnected environmental health challenges that may need to be addressed together.

2023 Environmental Science & Technology 64 citations
Article Tier 2

The Complex Interplay Between Antibiotic Resistance and Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products in the Environment

This review explores the complex relationship between antibiotic-resistant bacteria, antibiotic resistance genes, and environmental contaminants including pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Researchers found that antibiotic resistance is often elevated in human-impacted environments, particularly where faecal waste and chemical contaminant mixtures are present. The study highlights how environmental pollution, including microplastic contamination, may contribute to the spread of antibiotic resistance through horizontal gene transfer and bacterial adaptation.

2022 Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 44 citations
Article Tier 2

Insight into combined pollution of antibiotics and microplastics in aquatic and soil environment: Environmental behavior, interaction mechanism and associated impact of resistant genes

This review examines the combined pollution created when microplastics absorb antibiotics in water and soil environments. Researchers found that microplastics can concentrate antibiotics on their surfaces, and this combination promotes the spread of antibiotic-resistant genes in microbial communities. The study highlights that the interaction between these two emerging pollutants may pose greater environmental and health risks than either one alone.

2023 TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry 69 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics pollution in the ocean: Potential carrier of resistant bacteria and resistance genes

This review examined microplastics in marine environments as carriers of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and resistance genes, finding that plastic surfaces selectively enrich resistance genes through horizontal gene transfer and co-selection pressure, making ocean microplastics a vector for resistance dissemination across ecosystems.

2021 Environmental Pollution 96 citations
Article Tier 2

Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment with Emphasis on Horizontal Transfer of Antibiotic Resistance Genes

This review examines how pharmaceuticals and personal care products released into the environment contribute to antibiotic resistance, identifying them as contaminants of emerging concern that pose significant global health risks through horizontal gene transfer.

2022 Chemia, Dydaktyka, Ekologia, Metrologia 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Enhanced propagation of intracellular and extracellular antibiotic resistance genes in municipal wastewater by microplastics

Researchers investigated how microplastics in municipal wastewater can carry and promote the spread of antibiotic resistance genes, including those found both inside and outside bacterial cells. They found that microplastics adsorbed both types of resistance genes and enhanced their transfer between bacteria through horizontal gene transfer. The study reveals that microplastics in wastewater systems may act as an underappreciated accelerator of antibiotic resistance spread.

2021 Environmental Pollution 102 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic pollution increases gene exchange in aquatic ecosystems

Researchers found that microplastics in aquatic environments serve as surfaces where bacteria form biofilms and exchange genes at higher rates than free-living bacteria. The study demonstrated increased transfer of antibiotic resistance genes among a wide range of bacterial species growing on microplastic particles. The findings suggest that microplastic pollution could accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance in waterways, posing a potential hazard to both ecosystems and human health.

2018 Environmental Pollution 582 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic-Mediated Dissemination of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Marine Environments: Mechanisms, Environmental Modulators, and Emerging Risks

This review examines how microplastics serve as vectors for spreading antibiotic resistance genes in marine environments through biofilm formation and horizontal gene transfer. Researchers found that plastic surfaces promote colonization by resistant bacteria, and environmental factors like salinity, UV exposure, and co-occurring heavy metals further accelerate the spread of resistance genes, posing significant ecological and public health risks.

2026 Microplastics
Article Tier 2

Microplastic-associated pathogens and antimicrobial resistance in environment

This review examines how microplastics in the environment act as surfaces for disease-causing bacteria and antibiotic-resistant microbes to colonize and spread. Researchers found that microplastics can carry pathogens and facilitate the transfer of antimicrobial resistance genes between bacteria in water systems. The findings raise concerns that microplastic pollution may be contributing to the growing global challenge of antibiotic resistance.

2021 Chemosphere 175 citations
Article Tier 2

The Microplastic-Antibiotic Resistance Connection

This review examined the link between microplastic pollution and antibiotic resistance, finding that microplastic surfaces in the environment selectively enrich antibiotic-resistant bacteria and resistance genes, creating hotspots that may amplify the spread of resistance far beyond clinical settings.

2021 Environmental contamination remediation and management 24 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental drivers of antibiotic resistance: Synergistic effects of climate change, co-pollutants, and microplastics

This review examines how climate change, chemical pollutants, and microplastics work together to accelerate the spread of antibiotic resistance, a growing global health crisis. Microplastics provide surfaces where bacteria form communities that exchange resistance genes, and as these plastics age in the environment, they become even better at absorbing other pollutants, creating hotspots that amplify drug resistance.

2025 Journal of Hazardous Materials Advances 15 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics exhibit accumulation and horizontal transfer of antibiotic resistance genes

Researchers investigated whether microplastics in wastewater treatment plants can accumulate and spread antibiotic resistance genes. They found that bacteria growing on microplastic surfaces in treatment tanks harbored antibiotic resistance genes and transferred them at higher rates than bacteria in the surrounding water. This suggests microplastics in wastewater systems may serve as hotspots for spreading antibiotic resistance, posing potential risks to both ecosystems and human health.

2023 Journal of Environmental Management 49 citations
Article Tier 2

From Interface to Cell: The Complex Interaction and Transfer Process Coupling Mechanism between Microplastics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes

Researchers examined how microplastic surfaces act as vectors for spreading antibiotic resistance genes in wastewater treatment systems. The study found that aged microplastics of PET, PE, and PP promoted bacterial adhesion, enhanced horizontal gene transfer, and triggered overproduction of reactive oxygen species, ultimately amplifying the spread of antimicrobial resistance through multiple molecular mechanisms.

2026 Environmental Science & Technology
Article Tier 2

How microplastics and nanoplastics shape antibiotic resistance?

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastics act as vectors for antibiotic resistance genes, facilitating their spread through environmental and biological systems by creating selective pressure and hosting microbial communities that exchange resistance determinants.

2022 Water Emerging Contaminants & Nanoplastics 5 citations