Airborne PET nanoplastics alter tobacco’s chemical risk
Atmospheric micro(nano)plastics (MNPs), including polyethylene terephthalate (PET), enter plants via leaves, accumulating in tissues. Foliar PET nanoplastic exposure alters <i>Nicotiana benthamiana</i> nicotine biosynthesis, favoring the more potent (S)-isomer even without growth inhibition. This accumulation reveals a contamination pathway for combustible consumer products, demonstrating that MNPs-induced alteration of a plant's endogenous biochemistry represents a significant and previously uncharacterized risk to agricultural sustainability and human health.
Authors
- Yu-Chen Sun
- Xian-Zheng Yuan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7893-0692)
- Meiyan Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7823-1341)
- Jian-Lu Duan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2161-6053)
- Jing-Ya Ma
- Wei Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2106-4284)
- Yue Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5663-5986)
- Xiaoyu Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8005-7191)
- Shuguang Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9381-1771)
- Miao-Miao Tan
- Xiaodong Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6449-5485)
- Rong Xing (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9452-8855)
Institutions
- Shandong University (CN)
- Nankai University (CN)
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Technology
Publication Details
- Journal
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2025-12-18
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2519054122
- Primary Topic
- Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Natural Science Foundation of China