Plastic leachate-induced toxicity during sea urchin embryonic development: Insights into the molecular pathways affected by PVC

Microplastics are now polluting all seas and, while studies have found numerous negative interactions between plastic pollution and marine animals, the effects on embryonic development are poorly understood. A potentially important source of developmental ecotoxicity comes from chemicals leached from plastic particles to the marine environment. Here we investigate the effects of leachates from new and beach-collected pellets on the embryonic and larval devel-opment of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus and demonstrate that exposure of developing embryos to these leachates elicits severe, consistent and treatment-specific developmental abnormalities including radialisation of the embryo and malformation of the skeleton, neural and immune cells. Using a multi-omics approach we define the developmental pathways disturbed upon exposure to PVC leachates and provide a mechanistic view that pinpoints cel-lular redox stress and energy production as drivers of phenotypic abnormalities following exposure to PVC leachates. Analysis of leachates identified high concentrations of zinc that are the likely cause of these observed defects. Our findings point to clear and specific detrimental effects of marine plastic pollution on the development of echinoderms, demonstrating that chemicals leached from plastic particles into sea water can produce strong developmental abnor-malities via specific pathways, and therefore have the potential to impact on a wide range of organisms.

Automated summary

Microplastics pollution is a serious problem in all seas, and the effects of plastic leachates on the embryonic development of marine animals are poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the developmental effects of plastic leachates on sea urchins and found severe and specific abnormalities, including radialization and malformation of various cells. Our findings suggest that the high concentrations of zinc in plastic leachates are the likely cause of these defects and highlight the detrimental effects of marine plastic pollution on echinoderm development.