By Li Yuan
A research team led by Prof. Fan Qiaohui from the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources (NIEER) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in collaboration with Prof. Luo Yongming from the Institute of Soil Science of CAS, has systematically investigated label-free microplastics identification in crop plants and stress response to microplastics in wheat seedlings. The study was published in Journal of Hazardous Materials on May 22.
Most previous studies on the detection of microplastics in plants were based on fluorescent labeling. However, this method has certain disadvantages, including false-positive fluorescent signals of microplastics due to interference from background fluorescence of plant tissues and high limits of detection.