SCIENTIFIC LITERACY BACKGROUND ESSAY

By Nathan Swatsky

Cell Biology

Professor Keirra Wilkins

Old Dominion University

Norfolk, Virginia

April 23, 2023

Diatoms

Diatoms are a microscopic type of algae that live in any area that has water in it, from the ocean to damp micro-ecosystems on rocks. Diatoms are one of the most important Algae because they produce approximately 20% to 30% of the Oxygen that is produced yearly on the Earth, and also consume about 6.7 billion metric tons of silicon that is in the environment every year. On top of that, Diatoms also are able to act as an environmental indicator of climate change and can even tell us about the condition of water. (Eat Algae 2023) A certain type of diatom is Phaeodactylum tricornutum and it is the only species in the Phaeodactylum genus. It is able to exist in many different morphotypes as well as shapes and sizes, and is one of the only, if not the only, diatoms able to do so. Phaeodactylum tricornutum is one of the model species for diatoms and it is not known whether or not this diatom reproduces sexually, therefore it is only known to reproduce asexually. (Wikipedia contributors, 2023) Phaeodactylum Tricornutum plays a very important role in the biotechnology field in many different ways. P.T. is a biofuel precursor and a recombinant protein expression host because of its high growth rates and its biosynthetic capacity. (García-Vaquero, 2021) Pollution is something that has always been a very prominent problem in the Earth’s ecosystem, and since Covid-19, it has only gotten worse. Since Covid 19, the use of PPE such as gloves and masks has increased exponentially which has led to the huge increase in pollution via litter. The littering of these masks, wipes, and gloves, directly impacts the environment, especially the marine ecosystems. During covid, an estimated total of 194 billion face masks and gloves were used monthly, (Coronavirus: Face masks part of “new plastic pollution explosion,” 2020b) and a large portion of those used masks and gloves entered the marine ecosystem. The littering of these PPE has contributed to the decrease in biodiversity in marine life, the increase of animals ingesting these harmful materials into their body, and those are only two examples of the many ways that the littering of this material can negatively affect the marine ecosystem. With the study of whole and fragmented masks, the researchers are trying to determine whether fragmented face masks result in more pollution of the water than whole face masks and the results showed that this was that there were no major differences between the fragmented and whole masks, however there was a difference in three elements, Manganese, Zinc, Nickel.(Sendra et al., 2022b)  Phaeodactylum Tricornutum is a very good model organism for cytotoxicity studies because of its ability to survive in many different shapes, sizes, and morphotypes, along with it being a biofuel precursor and having high biosynthetic capacity. It was used to measure and watch changes in response evaluated when it was exposed to both fragmented face masks along with whole face masks. (Sendra et al., 2022b)

Materials and methods

This lengthy experiment involved the use of many different materials and methods including Fragmentation and degradation of surgical face masks, analysis of these masks and water collected, microalgae toxicological assay, and flow cytometry analysis. Fragmentation and Degradation of these surgical face masks were measured in two ways in this experiment, as a whole mask and as parts of a mask. These two different masks were then submerged into water and measured over a period of one month.(Marta Sendra a et al., 2022) Seven samples at the first week and the rest at once a week. The Microalgae toxicological assay is the analysis of the way the face masks interacted with the water across the month. They ultimately measured the microalgae density after 72 hours along with chemicals that the water had absorbed. 

Major findings

There are many results to the experiments conducted, however there are some main ones. One of the major findings is that there were no major findings between the controls and either of the treatments with face masks, however there were major differences in the elements found in the water. Increased levels of Manganese, Zink, and Nickel were all found in the water with the face masks. That being said, the only samples that had increased zinc, manganese, and nickel were the samples with the fragmented face masks. The second major finding is that the number of fibers in the water were significantly higher in the fragmented mask sample.(Marta Sendra a et al., 2022)

Research discussion

The main point of the discussion is to show that these surgical face masks that are used daily by medical staff as well as people due to the corona virus and how they have and will continue to affect our Earth’s natural environments, especially our water systems. It states that fragmented face masks resulted in significantly increased zinc, manganese, and nickel in the water, mainly manganese and zinc, while whole face masks resulted in little to no element change of the water.   

Figure 2-D explanation

Figure 2-D of this article shows the differences in the metals found in the water from fragmented and whole face masks. The black line is the control, or measurement of the elements in the ‘clean’ water, the blue line is the measurement of the whole masks in the water, and the red line is the measurement of the fragmented masks. The chart clearly depicts the measurements of silicon, phosphorus, manganese, copper, zinc, and nickel. The chart shows major differences in the red line on the manganese and zinc, while there are smaller changes in the other elements.

Future applications

I believe that this study can be the beginning of the end of the normal surgical face masks and could ultimately change the material used in face masks used today.

References

Bharath, M. (2021). Are face masks a threat to oceans? [online] International Water Association. Available at: https://iwa-network.org/are-face-masks-a-threat-to-oceans/.

Coronavirus: Face masks part of “new plastic pollution explosion” (2020c). Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/54015196.

Diatoms. (n.d.). https://eatalgae.org/diatoms/ 

Sendra, M. et al. (2022b) “Products released from surgical face masks can provoke cytotoxicity in the marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum,” Science of the Total Environment, 841, p. 156611. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156611. 

Ward, B. (2021b) Diatoms: A Complete Overview. Available at: https://microscopeclarity.com/diatoms-a-complete-overview/. 

Wikipedia contributors (2023b) Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaeodactylum_tricornutum. 

García-Vaquero, M. (2021b) Food applications. Elsevier BV. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-821218-9.00008-6.