Microplastics in the Soil at Sub‐Toxic Concentrations Cause Metabolic Changes Decreasing Fungal Pathogen Susceptibility in Arabidopsis thaliana
2025
Dainelli, Marco | Cicchi, Costanza | Baccelli, Ivan | Boutet, Stéphanie | Colzi, Ilaria | Coppi, Andrea | Luti, Simone | Pignattelli, Sara | Pollastri, Susanna | Loreto, Francesco | Pazzagli, Luigia | Corso, Massimiliano | Gonnelli, Cristina | Università degli Studi di Firenze = University of Florence = Université de Florence (UniFI) | CNR Istituto per la Protezione Sostenibile delle Piante [Torino, Italia] (IPSP) ; National Research Council of Italy | Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) | Institut Jean-Pierre Bourgin - Sciences du végétal (IJPB) ; AgroParisTech-Université Paris-Saclay-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE) | Istituto di Bioscienze e BioRisorse = Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources (IBBR CNR) ; National Research Council of Italy | Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) | University of Naples Federico II = Università degli studi di Napoli Federico II (UNINA) | Italian Ministry of University and Research—Italian PNRR program | European Union PON Research and Innovation 2014–2020; European Union—NextGenerationEU
International audience
Show more [+] Less [-]English. To unravel the complex interactions between microplastics (MPs), plants, and pathogens, Arabidopsis thaliana plants were grown for 3 weeks in soils containing polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) MPs (0.2% and 0.5% w/w), and leaves were then exposed to the PAMP (Pathogen-Associated Molecular Pattern) protein cerato-platanin (CP) or Botrytis cinerea conidia. PET caused a stimulation of stomatal conductance, and PVC decreased the aboveground biomass of A. thaliana plants. PVC (0.2%) triggered a primed state in A. thaliana, enhancing its response to B. cinerea infection and cerato-platanin. This was demonstrated by decreased lesion size, enhanced ROS generation, and elevated camalexin synthesis following PAMP elicitation, and increased levels of defensive isothiocyanate and phenylpropanoid metabolites. Our results indicate that MPs also affect soil structure, ionome balance, and specialised metabolite accumulation. However, MPs did not provide an unambiguous response, underscoring challenges in formulating a model of plant response to MPs when exposed to pathogens.
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by Institut national de la recherche agronomique