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Viral diversity and potential environmental risk in microplastic at watershed scale: Evidence from metagenomic analysis of plastisphere
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Metagenomic analysis of plastisphere communities on microplastics collected from five freshwater sites revealed diverse viral communities including phages and potential animal pathogens, with plastic-associated viromes differing from those in surrounding water. The study identifies microplastics as previously overlooked carriers of viral diversity and potential environmental health risks in aquatic ecosystems.
Microplastics (MPs) have been considered as a new vector for the long-distance transport of pathogens in aquatic ecosystems. However, the composition of viral communities attached on MPs and their environmental risk are largely unknown. Here, we profiled the viral diversity and potential risk in five different MPs collected from the Beilun River based on metagenomic analysis. Nearly 2863 million raw reads were produced and assembled, and annotation resulted in the identification of 1719 different species of viruses in MPs. Viruses in polypropylene (PP) displayed the highest diversity, with about 250 specific viruses detected. Source tracking of viruses in MPs by the fast expectation-maximization microbial source tracking method (FEAST) demonstrated that viruses in upstream and downstream MPs are two major sources of viruses in estuary. Furthermore, the MP-type-dependent potential environmental risk of viruses was significant based on both antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and virulence factors (VFs) detected in viral metagenomes, and PP was confirmed with the highest potential environmental risk. This study reveals the high diversity and potential environmental risk of viruses in different MPs, and provides an important guidance for future environmental monitoring and understanding the potential risks associated with both viral transmission and MPs pollution.
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