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Ecosystem settings and urbanization shape microbial communities and antibiotic resistance genes on coastal microplastics.
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Researchers studied microplastics placed in mangrove and sandy-beach sediments, comparing rural and urban areas. Bacterial communities and antibiotic resistance genes differed by habitat and urbanization, with urban mangrove microplastics showing the highest diversity of resistance genes and the strongest links between specific bacteria and these genes.
Coastal wetlands are increasingly contaminated by microplastics that provide long-lived substrates for microbial colonization, yet the joint effects of ecosystem settings and urbanization on plastisphere communities and their resistomes remain poorly understood. Here, we used a 2 × 2 factorial design across mangrove and sandy-beach sediments under rural and urban influence, combined with metagenomic profiling, to characterize microplastic-associated microbiota and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs). Microbial communities on microplastics showed clear separation between mangroves and sandy shores, with additional shifts along the rural-urban gradient, indicating context-dependent plastisphere assembly. Urbanization substantially increased richness in mangrove plastispheres, whereas effects on sandy beaches were weak or inconsistent and largely confined to low-abundance taxa. In situ exposure yielded a diverse ARG repertoire (>1 000 ARGs), and ARG composition showed significant ecosystem × human-impact interactions, with urban mangrove microplastics hosting the highest ARG diversity. Genus-ARG co-occurrence networks showed denser bacteria-ARG association patterns in mangrove than in sandy-beach plastispheres, with a limited number of genera statistically associated with multiple ARGs. These results suggest that plastisphere communities and resistomes varied across ecosystem settings and urbanization contexts, with urban mangrove microplastics showing relatively higher ARG diversity and stronger bacteria-ARG co-occurrence patterns. These findings highlight the need for habitat-specific monitoring of microplastic-associated resistance.
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Researchers compared microplastic biofilm communities (the plastisphere) across watersheds with different levels of urbanization, finding that higher urbanization enriched pathogenic bacteria and antibiotic resistance genes on plastic surfaces in waterways. The study suggests that urban runoff substantially elevates the health risk posed by microplastics as vectors of pathogens and antimicrobial resistance.
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Tiny plastic bits floating in rivers and coastal waters near cities aren't just pollution—they're becoming floating homes for bacteria, and researchers found these bacterial communities are more abundant and active in urban waterways than rural ones. Concerningly, many of these microplastic-dwelling bacteria showed resistance to common antibiotics like ampicillin and erythromycin, especially in urban areas, meaning plastic pollution may be helping germs become harder to treat as it travels through waterways where fish and humans have contact.
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This study found that microplastics in mangrove ecosystems serve as hotspots for antibiotic resistance genes and disease-causing bacteria. Polyethylene, polystyrene, and PVC surfaces incubated in mangrove sediments harbored significantly more high-risk resistance genes than the surrounding environment. This is concerning because mangroves are important coastal habitats, and microplastics there could help spread drug-resistant infections to wildlife and potentially to humans.
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