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Effects of Discarded Masks on the Offshore Microorganisms during the COVID-19 Pandemic
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Discarded COVID-19 masks released microplastics into seawater, and researchers profiled how these particles interact with offshore marine microorganisms. The microplastics altered microbial community composition and affected biofilm formation on the plastic surfaces. These findings highlight pandemic-related plastic waste as a source of microplastic pollution that disrupts marine microbial ecosystems.
Numerous disposable plastic masks had been produced and used for preventing the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic effectively. Discarded masks are a potential source of microplastic pollution in marine ecosystems. The effect of discarded masks on offshore microorganisms is still unclear. Herein, we profiled the interaction between the microplastics released by discarded masks and marine microbes. The effects of mask quantity, time, and environment on the microplastic-related communities were determined. We characterized the bacterial communities of each group using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and metagenomic sequencing and correlated the community diversity to the physicochemical properties of seawater. We found that the diversity and richness of microflora on the surface of microplastics with different quantity and time varied significantly. Proteobacteria are the main bacteria on microplastics, and the KEGG metabolic pathway prediction shows that amino acid metabolism and carbohydrate metabolism were abundant. In addition, there was a correlation between bacterial communities and Antibiotic Resistance Ontology (ARO). We used scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) techniques to evaluate the plastic polymer characteristics of disposable medical masks. Our research shows that disposable medical masks immersed in seawater can alter the microbial community. This study provides the most recent data and insights into the contamination of discarded masks in the marine environment.
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A 14 week lab experiment placed mask-derived microplastics in sediment to study the microbes that grow on them. These microbial communities differed from surrounding sediment, showed higher diversity, and were enriched in functions linked to disease causing potential, organic matter breakdown, and nutrient cycling, suggesting microplastics create a distinct habitat affecting sediment processes.
[Microbial Ecology in the Mask-derived Plastisphere in a Water Environment].
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Researchers studied the microbial ecology of plastisphere communities forming on different layers of discarded face masks in aquatic environments over time. Each mask layer harbored a unique microbial community with increasing richness over time; functional analysis revealed pathogenic, phototrophic, and compound-degrading capabilities, as well as roles in carbon and nitrogen cycling, indicating ecological significance of mask-derived plastisphere.
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