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Aquatic Plastisphere as a Reservoir for Pathogenic and Antifungal-Resistant Fungi
Summary
Scientists found that plastic waste floating in urban waterways is covered in harmful fungi—including several types the World Health Organization flags as top health threats—and many of these fungi are already resistant to antifungal drugs. Lab tests confirmed these drug-resistant fungi are alive and thriving on plastic surfaces more than in the surrounding water, suggesting plastic pollution may help spread hard-to-treat fungal infections. This matters because it points to plastic waste as an overlooked way that dangerous, drug-resistant germs travel through our environment and potentially reach people.
High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide Plastic pollution creates a globally distributed “plastisphere” microhabitat, yet its role in fostering antifungal resistance, a rapidly emerging One Health threat, remains poorly understood. Here, we tested whether aquatic plastic debris harbors potentially pathogenic fungi with antifungal resistance traits through combined shotgun metagenomics, culture-based validation, antifungal susceptibility testing, and isolate whole-genome sequencing. Diverse fungal assemblages were detected in the plastisphere from urban and peri-urban water bodies, including 32 FungAMR-curated pathogenic species, 13 of which are listed as WHO priority fungal pathogens. All 32 pathogenic species had contigs carrying at least one known resistance-conferring amino acid substitution, indicating widespread resistance potential across the detected pathogenic assemblage. Culture-based assays confirmed viable high-risk fungi, including Aspergillus fumigatus, Fusarium oxysporum, and Candida parapsilosis, with their isolates exhibiting multidrug-resistant phenotypes in MIC tests against 11 antifungal agents. Cross-substrate comparison further showed higher burdens of fungi carrying resistance-associated substitutions on microplastics than in bulk water. These findings indicate that the aquatic plastisphere potentially acts as a reservoir and dispersal vehicle for antifungal-resistant fungal pathogens, highlighting an overlooked dimension of plastic pollution with One Health relevance.