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Recommendation: A comparative, multi-study analysis of plastisphere communities, plasmid dynamics, and antibiotic resistance genes — R1/PR7
Original title: Recommendation: A comparative, multi-study analysis of plastisphere communities, plasmid dynamics, and antibiotic resistance genes — R1/PR7
Summary
Scientists studying "plastisphere" communities—the microbes that colonize tiny plastic particles in water—found that these microplastics often carry bacteria with mobile genetic elements capable of spreading antibiotic resistance to other bacteria. Certain plastic types (like polyethylene and PVC) were especially likely to host these easily-transferable resistance genes, suggesting microplastics could act as floating hubs that help antibiotic-resistant traits move between different bacteria in the environment. While this study analyzed existing data rather than testing human health effects directly, it highlights a potential pathway by which plastic pollution could
Microplastics are widespread in aquatic environments and support surface-associated microbial communities. Although antimicrobial resistance in the plastisphere has been reported, the organization of resistance genes across plasmid types and mobility categories on microplastic surfaces remains incompletely characterized. In this study, we analyzed published microplastic biofilm metagenomes to examine microbial community structure, plasmid replicon diversity, predicted mobility, and antimicrobial resistance genes (ARG) distributions across microplastics from various global locations. Phylum-level taxonomic profiles varied by geography, but most plastisphere communities were dominated by Pseudomonadota. Core microbiome analysis revealed several genera within the Pseudomonadota (Paracoccus, Pseudomonas, Sphingomonas, Sulfitobacter, Vibrio, Mesorhizobium, Rhizobium, Bradyrhizobium, Roseovarius, and Hyphomonas) as members of the plastisphere core. Plasmid reconstruction revealed differences in predicted mobility profiles, with conjugative plasmids frequently identified in the polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyvinyl chloride samples. A co-occurrence analysis of plasmid mobility, replicons, and ARG showed that conjugative plasmids connected a broader range of replicons to multiple ARG classes than mobilizable or non-mobilizable plasmids. IncFIB and IncFII replicons were prominent with high ARG co-occurrence. Additionally, several less-characterized rep_cluster replicons were detected across microplastic types, indicating diverse and understudied plasmid backbones within plastisphere communities, underscoring the importance of considering plasmid context when evaluating plastisphere resistomes.