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Plastic in the Environment: A Modern Type of Abiotic Stress for Plant Physiology

In recent years, plastic pollution has become a growing environmental concern: more than 350 million tons of plastic material are produced annually. Although many efforts have been made to recycle waste, a significant proportion of these plastics contaminate and accumulate in the environment. A cent...

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Autores principales: Santini, Giorgia, Castiglia, Daniela, Perrotta, Maryanna Martina, Landi, Simone, Maisto, Giulia, Esposito, Sergio
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10648480/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37960073
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants12213717
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author Santini, Giorgia
Castiglia, Daniela
Perrotta, Maryanna Martina
Landi, Simone
Maisto, Giulia
Esposito, Sergio
author_facet Santini, Giorgia
Castiglia, Daniela
Perrotta, Maryanna Martina
Landi, Simone
Maisto, Giulia
Esposito, Sergio
author_sort Santini, Giorgia
collection PubMed
description In recent years, plastic pollution has become a growing environmental concern: more than 350 million tons of plastic material are produced annually. Although many efforts have been made to recycle waste, a significant proportion of these plastics contaminate and accumulate in the environment. A central point in plastic pollution is demonstrated by the evidence that plastic objects gradually and continuously split up into smaller pieces, thus producing subtle and invisible pollution caused by microplastics (MP) and nanoplastics (NP). The small dimensions of these particles allow for the diffusion of these contaminants in farmlands, forest, freshwater, and oceans worldwide, posing serious menaces to human, animal, and plant health. The uptake of MPs and NPs into plant cells seriously affects plant growth, development, and photosynthesis, finally limiting crop yields and endangering natural environmental biodiversity. Furthermore, nano- and microplastics—once adsorbed by plants—can easily enter the food chain, being highly toxic to animals and humans. This review addresses the impacts of MP and NP particles on plants in the terrestrial environment. In particular, we provide an overview here of the detrimental effects of photosynthetic injuries, oxidative stress, ROS production, and protein damage triggered by MN and NP in higher plants and, more specifically, in crops. The possible damage at the physiological and environmental levels is discussed.
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spelling pubmed-106484802023-10-29 Plastic in the Environment: A Modern Type of Abiotic Stress for Plant Physiology Santini, Giorgia Castiglia, Daniela Perrotta, Maryanna Martina Landi, Simone Maisto, Giulia Esposito, Sergio Plants (Basel) Review In recent years, plastic pollution has become a growing environmental concern: more than 350 million tons of plastic material are produced annually. Although many efforts have been made to recycle waste, a significant proportion of these plastics contaminate and accumulate in the environment. A central point in plastic pollution is demonstrated by the evidence that plastic objects gradually and continuously split up into smaller pieces, thus producing subtle and invisible pollution caused by microplastics (MP) and nanoplastics (NP). The small dimensions of these particles allow for the diffusion of these contaminants in farmlands, forest, freshwater, and oceans worldwide, posing serious menaces to human, animal, and plant health. The uptake of MPs and NPs into plant cells seriously affects plant growth, development, and photosynthesis, finally limiting crop yields and endangering natural environmental biodiversity. Furthermore, nano- and microplastics—once adsorbed by plants—can easily enter the food chain, being highly toxic to animals and humans. This review addresses the impacts of MP and NP particles on plants in the terrestrial environment. In particular, we provide an overview here of the detrimental effects of photosynthetic injuries, oxidative stress, ROS production, and protein damage triggered by MN and NP in higher plants and, more specifically, in crops. The possible damage at the physiological and environmental levels is discussed. MDPI 2023-10-29 /pmc/articles/PMC10648480/ /pubmed/37960073 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants12213717 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Santini, Giorgia
Castiglia, Daniela
Perrotta, Maryanna Martina
Landi, Simone
Maisto, Giulia
Esposito, Sergio
Plastic in the Environment: A Modern Type of Abiotic Stress for Plant Physiology
title Plastic in the Environment: A Modern Type of Abiotic Stress for Plant Physiology
title_full Plastic in the Environment: A Modern Type of Abiotic Stress for Plant Physiology
title_fullStr Plastic in the Environment: A Modern Type of Abiotic Stress for Plant Physiology
title_full_unstemmed Plastic in the Environment: A Modern Type of Abiotic Stress for Plant Physiology
title_short Plastic in the Environment: A Modern Type of Abiotic Stress for Plant Physiology
title_sort plastic in the environment: a modern type of abiotic stress for plant physiology
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10648480/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37960073
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/plants12213717
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