Soil-derived protein corona modulates the behavior and biological effects of nanoplastics in rice.

Soil-derived protein coronas increase phytotoxicity of nanoplastics in rice, with PSC-PC reducing growth metrics by up to 23.73%.

• Why it matters: Understanding how nanoplastics interact with soil proteins is crucial because these interactions can change their environmental behavior and biological impacts on plants, affecting ecosystem health.
• What they did: The study constructed protein coronas on amino- and carboxyl-modified polystyrene nanoplastics using soil-extracted proteins and evaluated their uptake, distribution, and toxicity in rice, including transcriptomic analysis of gene responses.
• The result: Protein coronas significantly modulated nanoplastic effects, with PSC-PC inducing stronger toxicity and distinct molecular responses, emphasizing the need to include corona formation in environmental risk assessments.