PAE: Plastics Affect on the Enviornment

 

Figure shows conjugation transfer experiments between the donor and the recipient (A), conjunctive transfer with and between genera that is exposed to DMP at different concentrations (B), relative abundance of transconjugant community (C) in conjugative transfer of RP4 plasmid and wastewater microbiota.

In the manufacturing and processing of plastic products phthalate esters (PAEs) are used as plasticizers to enhance the flexibility and durability of the polymers. But PAEs have weak interactions which causes the toxic PAEs to release from the plastic; which can server risks environmental and ecological risk. PAEs can accumulate in the aquatic environments which can then be consumed in the human body by drinking water and foods thus causing diseases like cancer and abnormal reproductive hormones. Wu et al. (2023) have provided a study on how the microbial antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) behave in response to PAEs by using dimethyl phthalate (DMP) as a model toxicant. The donor and recipient strains were cultured in agar plates and incubated. Conjugate experiments was conducted where the donor strain and the recipient were mixed together, then spread on agar plates to grow and the cells were sorted after incubation. The results showed a strong interaction between the DMP molecules and the bilayer of the cell membrane, this causes the membrane lipid fluidity to decrease and the membrane permeability to increase which can favor ARGs.

Original Article:

Wu, J., Zhou, J.-H., Liu. D.-F.,Wu, J., He, R.-L, Cheng, Z.-H., . . . Li, W.-W. (2023, April 21). Phthalates Promote Dissemination of Antibiotic Resistance Genes: An Overlooked Environmental Risk. Enviornmental Science & Technology, 6761-6887. Retrieved from https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.2c09491