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Shotgun Metagenomic insights into the Plastisphere microbiome: Unveiling potential for clinical and industrial enzymes production along with plastic degradation
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Researchers used shotgun metagenomic sequencing to analyze microbial communities (plastisphere) colonizing plastic debris in soil and aquatic environments, finding that 54% of bacteria had plastic-degrading potential and that the plastisphere also harbored clinically relevant and industrially useful enzymes. The findings suggest the plastisphere is a reservoir of both plastic-degrading and biotechnologically valuable microorganisms.
Abstract Plastic pollution is one of the most resilient types of pollution, considered a global environmental threat, particularly in the marine environment. This study aimed to identify plastic-degrading bacteria from the plastisphere and their pharmaceutical and therapeutic potential. We collected samples from soil and aquatic plastisphere to identify the bacterial communities using shotgun metagenomic sequencing and bioinformatic tools. Results showed that the microbiome comprised 93% bacteria, 0.29% archaea, and 3.87% unidentified microbes. Of these 93% of bacteria, 54% were proteobacteria, 23.9% were firmicutes, 13% were actinobacteria, and 2.1% were other phyla. We found that the plastisphere microbiome was involved in degrading synthetic and polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) plastic, biosurfactant production, and can thrive under high temperatures. However, except Pseudomonas, no association existed between thermophiles, synthetic plastic or PHA degraders, and biosurfactant-producing bacterial species. Other plastisphere inhabiting plastic degrading microbes include Streptomyces, Bacillus, Achromobacter, Azospirillum, Bacillus, Brevundimonas, Clostridium, Paenibacillus, Rhodococcus, Serratia, Staphylococcus, Thermobifida, and Thermomonospora. However, the plastisphere microbiome showed potential for producing secondary metabolites that were found to act as anticancer, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and enzyme stabilizers under harsh environments. These results revealed that the plastisphere microbiome upholds clinical and environmental significance as it can open future portals in a multi-directional way.
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