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Microplastic analysis in the sediments of river Ganga and their relationship with ARGs.
Summary
Researchers investigated microplastic contamination in River Ganga sediments and its relationship with antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), sampling four locations monthly from January to March 2024 and identifying MPs via micro-Raman spectroscopy and four ARGs via qPCR. They found polyethylene and PVC were the dominant polymer types, with fibers the most common morphology, and detected co-occurrence of MPs with ARGs including sul1, tetA, qnrS, and acrA.
Microplastics (MPs) are classified as the particles having size ¡ 5mm. Due to the overuse of plastic products the MPs concentration has been increasing rapidly in all the environmental matrices; especially river sediments. There is very little evidence of the impacts of MPs on the antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs) in the river ganga. In the present study, we sampled 3 locations on the banks of river Ganga and one location on the upper ganga canal Roorkee; from January 2024 to March 2024 once a month and collected sediments 3 kgs. MPs were sorted using binocular reflective Nikon microscope and chemically identified using micro-Raman spectroscopy. We also analyzed 4 ARGs (sul1, tetA, qnrS, acrA) along with the bacterial DNA marker 16S rRNA gene using qPCR. All the samples had MPs present in them. Polyethylene (PE) and PVC were the most dominant MPs found in the samples. Fibers (42 Also see: https://micro2024.sciencesconf.org/559673/document