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Extracting DNA from ocean microplastics: a method comparison study
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Researchers compared multiple methods for extracting DNA from microplastics collected in the ocean, providing detailed protocols for studying the microbial communities that colonize plastic debris. Understanding what microorganisms colonize marine plastics is important because these surfaces can transport bacteria — including potentially harmful species — across long ocean distances.
Molecular characterization of ocean plastic biofilms can shed light on the ecological implications of plastic pollution; here we provide detailed protocols and compare different DNA extraction methods applied to marine microplastics.
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A new and straightforward protocol for microplastic's DNA extraction from freshwater environments
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Researchers developed a simplified DNA extraction protocol for microplastics collected from freshwater environments, enabling analysis of the microbial communities living on plastic surfaces. The protocol makes it easier to study plastisphere biofilms, which may harbor pathogens and antibiotic-resistant bacteria carried by microplastics in river systems.
Culturing the Plastisphere: comparing methods to isolate culturable bacteria colonising microplastics
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Researchers compared culturing methods for isolating bacteria from the plastisphere (plastic-colonizing microbial communities), finding that method choice strongly influences which bacterial taxa are recovered and that standardization is needed to better assess pathogen and resistance gene enrichment on microplastics.
Identifying microplastics in North Sea waters - A matter of extraction and detection
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Researchers evaluated multiple extraction and detection methods for identifying microplastics in North Sea water samples, finding that the choice of technique significantly affects detection results. The study calls for standardized protocols as a prerequisite for generating reliable and comparable data on marine microplastic pollution.
Comparison of microplastic isolation and extraction procedures from marine sediments
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Researchers compared five methods for extracting microplastics (40-710 μm) from marine sediments by spiking known MP quantities into sediment matrices and measuring percent recovery across extraction approaches. Results showed that sediment matrix composition, MP properties including size and polymer type, and extraction method all significantly influenced recovery efficiency, underscoring the need for standardized extraction protocols to enable cross-study comparisons.
Methods for sampling, processing, identification,and quantification of microplastics in the marine environment
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This paper reviews and compares the various methods used to collect, process, identify, and quantify microplastics across different environmental samples. It highlights the lack of standardized protocols as a major obstacle to comparing results across studies and calls for methodological harmonization.
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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.