Polystyrene nanoplastics affect the human ubiquitin structure and ubiquitination in cells: a high-resolution study.
M Della ValleG D'AbroscaM T GentileL RussoCarla IserniaS Di GaetanoR AvolioR CastaldoM CoccaG GentileG MalgieriM E ErricoRoberto FattorussoPublished in: Chemical science (2022)
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.
Keyphrases
- high resolution
- induced apoptosis
- cell cycle arrest
- endothelial cells
- small molecule
- oxide nanoparticles
- drug delivery
- risk assessment
- induced pluripotent stem cells
- magnetic resonance
- cell death
- oxidative stress
- randomized controlled trial
- mass spectrometry
- cell proliferation
- signaling pathway
- pi k akt
- amino acid
- high speed