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Marine microplastic-associated bacterial community succession in response to geography, exposure time, and plastic type in China's coastal seawaters
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Researchers used high-throughput gene sequencing to track how microbial communities on polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride microplastics changed over a full year in Chinese coastal waters. They found that the composition of plastic-associated bacterial communities varied significantly across geographic locations and over time, with Alphaproteobacteria being consistently dominant. The study reveals that the plastisphere is a dynamic ecosystem shaped by both environmental conditions and the duration of exposure.
Microplastics have emerged as new pollutants in oceans. Nevertheless, information of the long-term variations in the composition of plastic-associated microbial communities in coastal waters remains limited. This study applied high-throughput sequencing to investigate the successional stages of microbial communities attached to polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride microplastics exposed for one year in the coastal seawater of China. The composition of plastisphere microbial communities varied remarkably across geographical locations and exposure times. The dominant bacteria in the plastisphere were affiliated with the Alphaproteobacteria class, particularly Rhodobacteraceae, followed by the Gammaproteobacteria class. Scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed that the microplastics showed signs of degradation. Microbial communities showed adaptations to plastisphere including more diverse microbial community and greater "xenobiotics biodegradation and metabolism" in metabolic pathway analysis. The findings elucidate the long-term changes in the community composition of microorganisms that colonize microplastics and expand the understanding of plastisphere microbial communities present in the marine environment.
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Researchers used high-throughput DNA sequencing to profile bacterial communities colonizing microplastics in the intertidal zone of China's Yangtze Estuary, finding that plastisphere community composition reflected the particles' sedimentary versus aquatic origins and included keystone taxa adapted to surface-colonization as well as potential pathogens hitchhiking on plastic surfaces.
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Researchers tracked how bacterial communities colonizing different types of microplastics changed over time in an aquaculture bay in China. They found that both exposure duration and plastic type significantly influenced which bacteria grew on the surfaces, with hydrocarbon-degrading species becoming notably abundant. Concerning from a health perspective, the pathogenic bacterium Vibrio was detected on all microplastic samples, suggesting that floating plastics may serve as rafts for disease-causing organisms.
The structure and assembly mechanisms of plastisphere microbial community in natural marine environment
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Researchers investigated how microbial communities colonize different types of microplastic surfaces in natural marine environments over an eight-week period. They found that the composition of these plastic-associated microbial communities, known as the plastisphere, was shaped more by environmental conditions and time than by the specific type of plastic. The study provides new understanding of the ecological processes governing how microorganisms assemble on ocean plastic debris.
Diversity and succession of microbial communities on typical microplastics in Xincun Bay, a long-term mariculture tropical lagoon
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Researchers tracked microbial community succession on polyethylene, polystyrene, and polypropylene microplastics over 60 days in a tropical mariculture lagoon, finding that plastisphere bacterial diversity exceeded that of surrounding seawater and that community structure shifted significantly over time.
Environmental exposure more than plastic composition shapes marine microplastic‐associated bacterial communities in Pacific versus Caribbean field incubations
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Researchers incubated six types of household plastic polymers in Pacific and Caribbean coastal waters to study the bacterial communities that form on microplastics. They found that geographic location and exposure time were far more important than plastic type in shaping these microbial communities. The study identified a core plastisphere of 57 bacterial variants common across all conditions, suggesting environmental context plays a bigger role than plastic composition in microplastic colonization.
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