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Microplastic analysis in the sediments of river Ganga and their relationship with ARGs.
Summary
Researchers sampled sediments from three sites on the banks of the river Ganga and one site on the upper Ganga canal monthly from January to March 2024, analyzing microplastics by binocular microscopy and micro-Raman spectroscopy and quantifying four antibiotic resistance genes (sul1, tetA, qnrS, acrA) alongside the 16S rRNA bacterial marker by qPCR. They found microplastics — predominantly polyethylene and PVC fibers — in all samples and assessed their relationship to antibiotic resistance gene abundance in river sediments.
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