In-sewer microplastics drive microbial metabolic shifts toward enhanced methanogenesis.

Yaxin Wang, Xiuhong Liu, Zhipeng Zhang, Ruxian Jing, Xiaoyin Zhao, Weipeng Han, Chenduo Huang, Qing Yang

Abstract read

In one paragraph

Article in Environmental science and ecotechnology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it

0cells of the map it votes in

0citing papers in PubMed

–field-weighted citation impact

1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Yaxin WangKey Laboratory of Beijing for Water Quality Science and Water Environment Recovery Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, China.

Xiuhong LiuKey Laboratory of Beijing for Water Quality Science and Water Environment Recovery Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, China.

Zhipeng ZhangNational Engineering Laboratory for Advanced Municipal Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, China.

Ruxian JingNational Engineering Laboratory for Advanced Municipal Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, China.

Xiaoyin ZhaoBeijing Waterworks Group Co., Ltd, Beijing, 100031, China.

Weipeng HanNational Engineering Laboratory for Advanced Municipal Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, China.

Chenduo HuangKey Laboratory of Beijing for Water Quality Science and Water Environment Recovery Engineering, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, China.

Qing YangNational Engineering Laboratory for Advanced Municipal Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Technology, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Microplastics (MPs) in sewer systems can be transported extensively before entering wastewater treatment plants. Sewer systems harbor complex microbial communities under low-oxygen, sulfide-rich conditions that drive key biogeochemical cycles. These conditions drive microplastic aging, whereas these particles concurrently perturb sewer microbial ecology and metabolic functions. However, the underlying mechanisms of in-sewer microplastic aging and their subsequent impacts on sewer microbiomes remain unclear. Here we show that hydroxyl radicals preferentially attack ester bonds (C-O) in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT) MPs, increasing surface roughness, reducing particle size, promoting surface oxidation, and ultimately inducing polymer chain scission. Exposure to PET and PBAT MPs at 30-500 particles L

Indexed as

Aging mechanismFunctional metabolismHydroxyl radicalsMicroplasticsOxidative stressSewer systems

Identifiers

PMID42389292

DOI10.1016/j.ese.2026.100726

PMCPMC13319378

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata

LicenceCC BY

Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.