土壤中的塑料碎片有助于危险真菌的生长

[NAIROBI] Scientists have discovered a potentially lethal link between fungi that causediseasesand small pieces of plastic debris of less than five millimetres in soil.

该真菌确定了医疗问题，例如肺部肿胀和过敏症状，包括咳嗽和喘息。studypublished inScientific Reportslast month (15 July)

“This is a key finding because some of the fungi are disease-causing and knowledge of their existence is a first step in profiling their habitat.”

Dennis Otieno, Kenya’s Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology

One of the lung diseases, known as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, led to 3.23 million deaths in 2019 globally, with more than 80 per cent of the deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries, according to the World Health Organization.

研究人员通过分析肯尼亚西亚亚镇人类定居点附近的土壤样本，包括市场，包括市场，垃圾场，路边和庭院，建立了引起疾病的真菌与小型塑料之间的联系。

“These microplastics [small pieces of plastic debris] create a conducive environment for fungal growth, by trapping soil water and other nutrients on their surfaces, enabling the fungi to attach themselves and grow and multiply,” says Dennis Otieno, an associate professor at Kenya’s Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology, who was not involved in the study.

Otieno补充说，由于塑料处置不佳，微塑料在肯尼亚的土壤中已广泛，尤其是在城市，郊区和市场地区，导致环境污染。beplay足球体育的微博

Otieno解释说，人类通过身体接触或饮用水不断接触土壤的事实增加了感染的风险.

“This is a key finding because some of the fungi are disease-causing andknowledgeof their existence is a first step in profiling their habitat, their potential impacts onbeplay足球体育的微博and humans and their management,” he tellsSciDev.Net.

Researchers identified the fungusRemotididymella anthropophila, which has been found in the human respiratory tract, as the dominant fungal species on microplastics, the study says.

该研究补充说：“致病真菌在塑料上的聚集是无处不在且极具持久污染物的塑料，有效地使其成为有效的感染来源，并可以开放新的感染路线，从而增加了野生动植物，牲畜和人类疾病的风险。”

Gerasimos Gkoutselis, a coauthor of the study and a doctoral student at the University of Bayreuth’s department of mycology in Germany, says that the fungi are able to withstand solar radiation and heat which they are exposed to on soil surfaces.

Researchers used imaging techniques such as scanning and electron microscopy to examine the microplastics, small debris of plastics that are less than five millimetres long.

“By observing all stages of fungal biofilm formation on microplastics in the soil samples, we were able to demonstrate that fungi not only grow but also reproduce in the so-called plastisphere [an environment with several plastics],” Gkoutselis adds.

“因此，我们的研究结果支持了微塑料上专门的真菌群落形成的推定，这与周围土壤中的真菌群落有很大差异。”at the University of Bayreuth.

The biological effects of microplastics in the environment is a growing concern, says Eric Ogello, a lecturer and aquaculture specialist at Maseno University, Kenya.

The multidisciplinary nature of the research team, he says, gives it a solid foundation upon which further research could be based.

Otieno agrees with Ogello that there is a need for furtherresearchon microplastics in soil to determine, for example, how they influence water flow in the soil, how they affect plant water uptake, and bacterial communities.

“The findings could contribute topolicydocuments on management of microplastics,” Otieno says.

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