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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Determinants of microbial colonization on microplastics through wastewater treatment processes: The role of polymer type and sequential treatment
ClearThe factors affecting bacterial colonisation on microplastics and the impact of tertiary treatment of wastewater on the attached bacteria and microplastics
This study examined the factors that influence bacterial colonization on microplastics and tested how tertiary wastewater treatment affects the bacteria and microplastics discharged from a treatment plant. Microplastic-associated biofilms in wastewater can carry harmful and antibiotic-resistant bacteria into receiving water bodies.
Wastewater treatment alters microbial colonization of microplastics
Analysis of microplastics and their biofilms across raw sewage, effluent, and sludge at two wastewater treatment plants found that >99% of influent MPs were retained in sludge, and that wastewater treatment substantially altered biofilm microbial composition, enriching bioflocculation-associated taxa.
Selective microbial attachment to LDPE plastic beads during passage through the wastewater network
Researchers tracked how microbial communities colonize plastic beads as they travel through different stages of a wastewater treatment plant. They found that distinct bacterial communities selectively attached to the plastic surfaces at each treatment stage, differing from the microbes in the surrounding water. The study reveals that microplastics passing through wastewater systems accumulate unique microbial hitchhikers that could carry pathogens or antibiotic-resistant bacteria into the environment.
Wastewater treatment alters microbial colonization of microplastics released to the environment
This study found that the type of microbes colonizing microplastics changes significantly after they pass through wastewater treatment, with treated microplastics carrying a different and potentially less harmful microbial community. Understanding how treatment affects the 'plastisphere' is important for assessing the ecological risk of microplastics released into waterways.
Biofilm formation on microplastics in wastewater: insights into factors, diversity and inactivation strategies
This study investigated how bacteria form biofilms on different types of microplastics in wastewater, finding that polyethylene supported the most biofilm growth, especially in dark, warm, oxygen-rich conditions. The biofilms contained bacteria from groups that include potential human pathogens, and different plastic types supported different microbial communities. This matters because microplastics coated in bacterial biofilms could transport harmful microorganisms through water systems and into the environment.
Microbial Succession on Microplastics in Wastewater Treatment Plants: Exploring the Complexities of Microplastic-Microbiome Interactions
This review examines how different microorganisms colonize microplastic surfaces in wastewater treatment plants, forming communities called biofilms that change as the treatment process progresses. These biofilms can include harmful bacteria and antibiotic-resistant organisms that ride on microplastics through the treatment process and into the environment. The findings are concerning because microplastics leaving treatment plants could carry disease-causing microbes into waterways used for drinking and recreation.
The dangerous transporters: A study of microplastic-associated bacteria passing through municipal wastewater treatment
This study characterized bacterial communities attached to microplastics sampled from multiple stages of a municipal wastewater treatment plant, finding that diverse bacteria including potential pathogens and antibiotic-resistant strains remained attached to microplastics through all treatment steps. The results suggest microplastics could transport hazardous bacteria through wastewater treatment and into receiving environments.
Early and differential bacterial colonization on microplastics deployed into the effluents of wastewater treatment plants
Researchers deployed seven types of microplastic materials into the effluents of two wastewater treatment plants and characterised bacterial communities colonising them after an early biofilm formation period using 16S rRNA sequencing. They found significantly higher bacterial diversity on microplastics than in the surrounding free-living water, and detected elevated antibiotic resistance genes (sulI, tetM) on microplastic surfaces, suggesting that WWTP effluents seed microplastics with pathogen- and resistance gene-carrying biofilms.
Comparative Analysis of Selective Bacterial Colonization by Polyethylene and Polyethylene Terephthalate Microplastics
Biofilm communities were compared on polyethylene and polyethylene terephthalate microplastics incubated in two freshwater bacterial communities, finding that the original water source bacteria largely determined biofilm composition rather than the plastic type. The study suggests that the plastisphere in freshwater systems reflects local microbial pools more than plastic-specific selection.
Tracking the Evolution of Microbial Communities on Microplastics through a Wastewater Treatment Process: Insight into the “Plastisphere”
Researchers tracked how bacterial communities form and evolve on polystyrene microplastics as they pass through primary, secondary, and tertiary stages of wastewater treatment. They found that biofilms on the microplastics harbored greater bacterial diversity than surrounding water, with certain pioneer species facilitating further microbial colonization. The study reveals that bacteria attached to microplastics become more resistant to treatment processes than free-floating bacteria, raising concerns about microplastics as carriers of potentially harmful microbes in treated effluent.
Identification of microplastic-associated microbial communities from various stages of wastewater treatment and recipient surface waters using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry
Researchers deployed six polymer types at different stages of wastewater treatment across three Hungarian plants and used MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry to identify the bacteria colonizing microplastic surfaces, finding distinct microbial communities that may act as vectors for antibiotic resistance.
Performance and bacterial community profiles of sequencing batch reactors during long-term exposure to polyethylene terephthalate and polyethylene microplastics
Researchers examined how PET and polyethylene microplastics affect wastewater treatment in sequencing batch reactors, finding that microplastics alone did not significantly impair treatment performance but did alter bacterial community composition over long-term exposure.
Wastewater discharges and polymer type modulate the riverine plastisphere and set the role of microplastics as vectors of pathogens and antibiotic resistance
Researchers investigated how wastewater treatment plant discharges and polymer type shape microbial communities on microplastics in a river environment. They found that microplastics harbored significantly higher microbial diversity than surrounding water, and that wastewater discharges led to a 2.3-fold increase in antibiotic resistance gene abundance on the plastic surfaces. Different polymer types, including polyethylene, polypropylene, and PET, each attracted distinct microbial communities with varying levels of pathogens and resistance genes.
Antibiotic-driven shifts in bacterial dynamics of the polyethylene terephthalate and low density polyethylene plastisphere in wastewater treatment systems
Researchers studied how antibiotic exposure shifts the bacterial communities colonizing PET and LDPE microplastic surfaces in activated sludge from wastewater treatment plants, finding that antibiotics altered plastisphere microbial composition and increased antibiotic resistance gene prevalence.
Structural and Functional Characteristics of Microplastic Associated Biofilms in Response to Temporal Dynamics and Polymer Types
Researchers found that biofilm structural and functional characteristics on microplastics differ significantly depending on polymer type (polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene) and change over time, with implications for understanding microbial colonization and the plastisphere.
Are bacterial communities associated with microplastics influenced by marine habitats?
A three-month field exposure experiment on a Chinese island compared bacterial communities on polyethylene and PET microplastics in three marine habitats (intertidal, supralittoral, seawater), finding that habitat significantly shaped community structure but polymer type had a weaker influence.
Structural Diversity in Early-Stage Biofilm Formation on Microplastics Depends on Environmental Medium and Polymer Properties
This study examined the early stages of bacterial biofilm formation on different types of plastic surfaces in different environmental media, finding that both the growth medium and the polymer type influenced which microbial communities colonized the plastic. These plastic-associated biofilms (the plastisphere) can make microplastics more appealing to filter-feeding organisms that mistake them for food.
Different microbial assemblage colonized on microplastics and clay particles in aerobic sludge treatment
In an aerobic sludge treatment system, polystyrene microplastics (PSMPs) hosted more diverse and abundant bacterial communities than polypropylene MPs or natural clay particles, and each substrate type shaped its own distinct microbial niche. This matters because the unique microbiomes that form on plastic surfaces in wastewater systems may alter treatment efficiency and carry potentially harmful organisms into receiving environments.
Microplastic biofilm in fresh- and wastewater as a function of microparticle type and size class
Researchers compared the biofilm communities that form on microplastics of different types and sizes in both freshwater and wastewater, finding that biofilm composition was influenced by particle type, size, and water source. These findings advance understanding of the plastisphere — the microbial community unique to plastic surfaces — and its potential role in spreading microorganism-associated risks.
Taxonomic variation, plastic degradation, and antibiotic resistance traits of plastisphere communities in the maturation pond of a wastewater treatment plant
Researchers placed different types of weathered plastics in a wastewater treatment pond for up to a year and studied the microbial communities that grew on them. The study suggests that the bacteria colonizing plastics in wastewater were shaped more by time and water depth than by the type of plastic, and that these communities may carry genes related to plastic degradation and antibiotic resistance.
Environmental Factors Support the Formation of Specific Bacterial Assemblages on Microplastics
Researchers incubated polystyrene, polyethylene, and wooden pellets across marine and freshwater environments and found that environmental conditions — more than plastic type — drove the formation of specific bacterial communities on microplastics, with plastic-specific assemblages only emerging under certain conditions.
Divergent biofilm colonization on plastics in wastewater: Accelerated maturation on polyamide versus growth inhibition on biodegradable polymers
Researchers tracked 30-day biofilm formation on three plastic types in simulated wastewater, finding that polyamide promoted rapid, robust microbial colonization via nitrogen enrichment, while biodegradable PBAT/PLA plastic initially attracted bacteria but then inhibited sustained growth due to toxic leachates — demonstrating that plastic chemistry shapes plastisphere ecology in wastewater treatment.
Effects of polyethylene terephthalate microplastics on performance of sequencing-batch membrane bioreactor for simulated municipal wastewater treatment
Researchers assessed the impact of PET microplastics on a sequencing-batch membrane bioreactor treating simulated municipal wastewater and found that PET MPs altered microbial community composition, reduced treatment efficiency at higher concentrations, and increased membrane fouling. The study highlights risks to wastewater infrastructure from microplastic contamination.
Size-dependent effects of microplastics on antibiotic resistance genes fate in wastewater treatment systems: The role of changed surface property and microbial assemblages in a continuous exposure mode
Researchers developed a continuous exposure method to evaluate how different sizes of microplastics affect antibiotic resistance gene fate in wastewater treatment, finding that smaller microplastics had greater impacts on microbial communities and resistance gene proliferation.