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Microplastics in the insular marine environment of the Southwest Indian Ocean carry a microbiome including antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacteria: A case study from Reunion Island

Marine Pollution Bulletin 2023 17 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 55 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Philippe Jourand Margot Thibault, Loïk Sababadichetty, Philippe Jourand, Loïk Sababadichetty, Margot Thibault, Guillaume Miltgen, Véronique Lenoble, Thierry Bouvier, Guillaume Miltgen, Bryan Vincent, Véronique Lenoble, Thierry Bouvier, François Guilhaumon, Bryan Vincent, Véronique Lenoble, Véronique Lenoble, François Guilhaumon, Véronique Lenoble, Véronique Lenoble, Véronique Lenoble, Margot Thibault, Véronique Lenoble, Véronique Lenoble, Margot Thibault, Sophie Bureau, Sophie Bureau, Véronique Lenoble, Pablo Tortosa, Pablo Tortosa, Véronique Lenoble, Thierry Bouvier, Thierry Bouvier, Sophie Bureau, Philippe Jourand Philippe Jourand, Sophie Bureau, Véronique Lenoble, Véronique Lenoble, Véronique Lenoble, Véronique Lenoble, Véronique Lenoble, Philippe Jourand Philippe Jourand, Philippe Jourand, Philippe Jourand

Summary

Researchers studied the microbial communities growing on microplastics collected from the waters around Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. They found that these plastic-associated microbiomes included bacteria carrying antimicrobial resistance genes, which differ from what is typically found in the surrounding seawater. The findings highlight that ocean microplastics can serve as floating platforms for potentially harmful, drug-resistant microbes even in remote island environments.

Study Type Environmental

The increasing threats to ecosystems and humans from marine plastic pollution require a comprehensive assessment. We present a plastisphere case study from Reunion Island, a remote oceanic island located in the Southwest Indian Ocean, polluted by plastics. We characterized the plastic pollution on the island's coastal waters, described the associated microbiome, explored viable bacterial flora and the presence of antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacteria. Reunion Island faces plastic pollution with up to 10,000 items/km in coastal water. These plastics host microbiomes dominated by Proteobacteria (80 %), including dominant genera such as Psychrobacter, Photobacterium, Pseudoalteromonas and Vibrio. Culturable microbiomes reach 10 CFU/g of microplastics, with dominance of Exiguobacterium and Pseudomonas. Plastics also carry AMR bacteria including β-lactam resistance. Thus, Southwest Indian Ocean islands are facing serious plastic pollution. This pollution requires vigilant monitoring as it harbors a plastisphere including AMR, that threatens pristine ecosystems and potentially human health through the marine food chain.

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