Microplastic Textile Fibers Accumulate in Sand and Are Potential Sources of Micro(nano)plastic Pollution.

Agricultural soils have been identified as sinks for microplastic fibers; however, little information is available on their long-term fate in these soils. In this study, polyester and nylon fibers were precisely cut to relevant environmental lengths, using novel methodology, and their behavior in sand columns was studied at environmental concentration. The longer fibers (>50 μm) accumulated in the upper layers of the sand, smaller fibers were slightly more mobile, and nylon showed marginally higher mobility than polyester.

Curli production enhances clay-E. coli aggregation and sedimentation.

Curli are amyloid fibrils that polymerize extracellularly from curlin, a protein that is secreted by many enteric bacteria and is important for biofilm formation. Presented here is a systematic study of the effects of curli on bacteria-clay interactions. The aggregation trends of curli-producing and curli-deficient bacteria with clay minerals were followed using gradient-sedimentation experiments, Lumisizer measurements, bright-field and electron microscopy.