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Microbial hitchhikers on microplastics: The exchange of aquatic microbes across distinct aquatic habitats
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This study investigated how microorganisms hitchhike on microplastics as they move between river and ocean environments, finding that plastic surfaces were colonized by pollutant-degrading bacteria and plastic-degrading fungi. The mere presence of microplastics in seawater increased the abundance of planktonic fungi from 2% to 25%, showing that microplastics significantly alter microbial communities. This matters for human health because microplastics can transport potentially harmful microorganisms across different water environments, including those used for drinking water and aquaculture.
Microplastics (MPs) have the potential to modify aquatic microbial communities and distribute microorganisms, including pathogens. This poses a potential risk to aquatic life and human health. Despite this, the fate of 'hitchhiking' microbes on MPs that traverse different aquatic habitats remains largely unknown. To address this, we conducted a 50-day microcosm experiment, manipulating estuarine conditions to study the exchange of bacteria and microeukaryotes between river, sea and plastisphere using a long-read metabarcoding approach. Our findings revealed a significant increase in bacteria on the plastisphere, including Pseudomonas, Sphingomonas, Hyphomonas, Brevundimonas, Aquabacterium and Thalassolituus, all of which are known for their pollutant degradation capabilities, specifically polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. We also observed a strong association of plastic-degrading fungi (i.e., Cladosporium and Plectosphaerella) and early-diverging fungi (Cryptomycota, also known as Rozellomycota) with the plastisphere. Sea MPs were primarily colonised by fungi (70%), with a small proportion of river-transported microbes (1%-4%). The mere presence of MPs in seawater increased the relative abundance of planktonic fungi from 2% to 25%, suggesting significant exchanges between planktonic and plastisphere communities. Using microbial source tracking, we discovered that MPs only dispersed 3.5% and 5.5% of river bacterial and microeukaryotic communities into the sea, respectively. Hence, although MPs select and facilitate the dispersal of ecologically significant microorganisms, drastic compositional changes across distinct aquatic habitats are unlikely.
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Researchers compared microbial communities that form on microplastics versus natural materials as they travel from aquaculture ponds to adjacent streams. They found that different plastic types harbored distinct microbial communities, and that these plastisphere communities were less stable than those on natural substrates during transit between water bodies. The study suggests that microplastics may spread different assemblages of microorganisms as they move through connected aquatic environments.
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