Microplastics exposure causes oxidative stress and microbiota dysbiosis in planarian Dugesia japonica

Planarians are widely used as water quality indicator species to provide early warning of harmful pollution in aquatic ecosystems. However, the impact of microplastics on freshwater planarians remains poorly investigated. Here we simulated waterborne microplastic exposure in the natural environments to examine the effect on the antioxidant defense system and microbiota in Dugesia japonica. The results showed that exposure to microplastics significantly changed the levels of antioxidant enzymes, including superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione S-transferase, indicating that microplastic exposure induces oxidative stress in planarians. High-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing results revealed that exposure to microplastics altered the diversity, abundance, and composition of planarian microbiota community. At phylum level, the relative abundance of the dominant phyla Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes changed significantly after microplastic exposure. At genus level, the abundance of dominant genera also changed significantly, including Curvibacter and unclassified Chitinophagales. Predictive functional analysis showed that the microbiota of microplastic-exposed planarians exhibited an enrichment in genes related to fatty acid metabolism. Overall, these results showed that microplastics can cause oxidative stress and microbiota dysbiosis in planarians, indicating that planarians can serve as an indicator species for microplastic pollution in freshwater systems.