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Updated: Aug 17, 2025

Forming Micro-and Nano-Plastics from Agricultural Plastic Films for Employment in Fundamental Research Studies
Published on: July 27, 2022
Polystyrene nanoplastics affect the human ubiquitin structure and ubiquitination in cells: a high-resolution study
M Della Valle1, G D'Abrosca1, M T Gentile1
1Department of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, University of Campania - Luigi Vanvitelli Via Vivaldi 43 81100 Caserta Italy roberto.fattorusso@unicampania.it.
Abstract:
Humans are estimated to consume several grams per week of nanoplastics (NPs) through exposure to a variety of contamination sources. Nonetheless, the effects of these polymeric particles on living systems are still mostly unknown. Here, by means of CD, NMR and TEM analyses, we describe at an atomic resolution the interaction of ubiquitin with polystyrene NPs (PS-NPs), showing how a hard protein corona is formed. Moreover, we report that in human HeLa cells exposure to PS-NPs leads to a sensible reduction of ubiquitination. Our study overall indicates that PS-NPs cause significant structural effects on ubiquitin, thereby influencing one of the key metabolic processes at the base of cell viability.
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