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Unveiling the plastisphere in anammox process: Physicochemical evolution of microplastics and microbial succession dynamics
Summary
Researchers tracked how polyethylene terephthalate microplastics change physically and chemically over 30 days in an anaerobic wastewater treatment system. They found that while the microplastics had minimal impact on nitrogen removal efficiency, they developed distinct microbial communities on their surfaces that evolved over time. The study provides new insights into how microplastics interact with beneficial microbes in wastewater treatment processes.
Microplastics (MPs) and the plastisphere they form pose substantial ecological risks in aquatic environments and wastewater treatment processes. As a unique niche, the evolution of plastisphere in anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox) systems remains poorly understood. This study investigated the physicochemical evolution of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) MPs and microbial succession within the plastisphere during a 30-day incubation with anammox granular sludge. Results demonstrated that short-term exposure to 800 mg/L PET MPs exerted negligible impacts on nitrogen removal efficiency (>90 %) due to functional redundancy. During incubation, MPs exhibited increased surface roughness, reduced hydrophobicity, and attenuated zeta potential, attributed to the formation of biofilms containing hydrophilic functional groups (-OH, -NH₂). The plastisphere, initially colonized by heterotrophic denitrifiers, gradually converged with the anammox sludge community over time. Functional annotation indicated that early biofilm formation prioritized extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) synthesis pathways, while mature biofilms shifted toward resource conservation and inter-microbial signaling. These findings highlight the reciprocal influence between anammox consortia and plastispheres, providing insights into MP fate in anammox systems.
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