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Microbial communities in plastisphere and free-living microbes for microplastic degradation: A comprehensive review
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Researchers reviewed how microbes — including bacteria, fungi, and biofilm communities — break down microplastics through five main processes including colonization of plastic surfaces, chemical fragmentation, and mineralization into simple compounds like CO2 and water. The review also covers how microplastics cause inflammation, oxidative stress, and potential cancer and neurotoxicity risks in living organisms, while highlighting the promise of microbial biodegradation as a strategy to reduce plastic pollution in soil and water.
Plastic plays a crucial role both in people's daily lives as well as in society as a whole. The environment is accumulating plastics, and they have low biodegradability, so this problem will likely persist for a long time. The fragmentation of plastics generates microplastics (MPs). Research on the degradation of synthetic MPs by enzymes or microorganisms has become a prominent topic, which paves the way for the development of biological waste treatment technologies. There are five types of biodegradation processes: (1) colonization, (2) conditional film formation, (3) assimilation, (4) bio-fragmentation, and (5) mineralization. The biodegradation of a variety of polymers has been demonstrated recently by bacteria, bacterial consortia, biofilm-forming bacteria, and fungi. Biodegradation is the microbes-assisted transformation that decomposes the plastic wastes into CO2, methane, biomass, inorganic compounds, and water, depending on organisms, the molecular weight of plastics, polymer type, and environmental conditions. MPs cause inflammation, oxidative stress, and enhanced translocation or absorption in humans, plants, and animals. Humans are susceptible to cancer, neurotoxicity, and metabolic abnormalities, according to various studies. Additionally, we have discussed the metabolic pathways of microbes and our ongoing efforts to use them to reduce microplastic pollution in soil and water. Further investigation is required to determine the critical environmental characteristics and qualities that influence plastic degradation in order to anticipate the destiny of plastics in various contexts and to allow the development of solutions for mitigating plastic waste.
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Researchers investigated the roles of microbes in biodegrading or colonizing microplastic surfaces, examining how microbial communities interact with plastic polymers in environmental settings. The study characterized the 'plastisphere' — the community of microorganisms that colonize microplastic surfaces — and assessed the extent to which microbial activity contributes to plastic degradation in natural environments.
Microbial colonization and degradation of marine microplastics in the plastisphere: A review
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This review explores the "plastisphere" — the community of microorganisms that colonize microplastics floating in the ocean. Researchers found that bacteria, fungi, algae, and other microbes form unique biofilm communities on plastic surfaces, some of which can partially degrade the plastic while others include potentially harmful pathogens. Understanding these microbial communities is important for assessing both the ecological risks and possible bioremediation potential of marine microplastic pollution.
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This review examines the role of microbial biofilms in degrading microplastics, presenting insights into how microbial communities colonizing plastic surfaces may contribute to the breakdown of microplastic particles in aquatic and terrestrial environments.
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This review explores how microplastics form, spread through ecosystems, and affect microbial communities, then examines how certain microorganisms can actually break down these plastic particles. Understanding microbial degradation of microplastics could lead to biotechnology solutions that reduce the amount of plastic pollution entering the food chain and ultimately the human body.
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