As concern grows among environmentalists and consumers about micro- and nanoplastics in the oceans and in seafood, they are increasingly studied in marine environments, say Baoshan Xing at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and colleagues in China.
As concern grows among environmentalists and consumers about micro- and nanoplastics in the oceans and in seafood, they are increasingly studied in marine environments, say Baoshan Xing at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and colleagues in China. But “little is known about the behavior of nanoplastics in terrestrial environments, especially agricultural soils,” they add.
Xing, an environmental scientist at UMass Amherst’s Stockbridge School of Agriculture, and collaborators at Shandong University, China, point out that until now, there had been no direct evidence that nanoplastics are internalized by terrestrial plants.
They state, “Our findings provide direct evidence that nanoplastics can accumulate in plants, depending on their surface charge. Plant accumulation of nanoplastics can have both direct ecological effects and implications for agricultural sustainability and food safety.” Both positively and negatively charged nanoplastics accumulate in the commonly used laboratory model plant, Arabidopsis thaliana.
Xing adds that widespread global use and persistence in the environment result in an “enormous” amount of plastic waste. He says, “Our experiments have given us evidence of nanoplastics uptake and accumulation in plants in the laboratory at the tissue and molecular level using microscopic, molecular and genetic approaches. We have demonstrated this from root to shoot.” Details are in Nature Nanotechnology this week.
Read more at University of Massachusetts Amherst
Image: A graphic showing roots and root hairs absorbing nanoplastics. At the bottom are pieces of plastic waste. (Credit: UMass Amherst/Xing lab Shandong University/Yuan and Wang labs)
