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Bacterial colonisation dynamics of household plastics in a coastal environment
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This study tracked how quickly and what kinds of bacteria colonized common household plastics (including bottles, bags, and packaging) placed in a coastal estuary environment. Bacteria colonized all plastic types within days, and the communities that formed included potential human pathogens. Plastic-associated bacterial communities in coastal environments could pose public health risks through seafood contamination or contact with polluted water.
Abstract Accumulation of plastics in the marine environment has widespread detrimental consequences for ecosystems and wildlife. Marine plastics are rapidly colonised by a wide diversity of bacteria, including human pathogens, posing potential risks to human health. Here, we investigate the effect of polymer type, residence time and estuarine location on bacterial colonisation of common household plastics, including pathogenic bacteria. To do so, we submerged five main household plastic types: low-density PE (LDPE), high-density PE (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) at an estuarine site in Cornwall (U.K.) and tracked bacterial colonisation dynamics. Using both culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches, we found that bacteria rapidly colonised plastics irrespective of polymer type. While biofilm community composition changed with colonisation time, no difference was observed between polymer types. Likewise, the presence of pathogenic bacteria, quantified using the insect model Galleria mellonella , increased over a five-week period, with no consistent differences observed between polymer types. Pathogens isolated from plastic biofilms using Galleria enrichment included Serratia and Enterococcus species and harboured a wide range of antimicrobial resistance genes. Our findings show that plastics in coastal waters are rapidly colonised by a wide diversity of bacteria, including known human pathogens, independent of polymer type.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.