Bacterial Assemblages on Microplastics

What happens to the plastics in water bodies? The answer is, they might get invaded  by bacteria. A study made by S. Oberbeckmann, et al., shows different specific bacterial assemblages that formed in microplastics (MP) found in bodies of water. MP can be found in aquatic ecosystems; its accumulation occur because of oceanographic currents or anthropogenic point sources. one would think that these MP are just there serving no purpose, but bacteria are taking advantage of them by forming assemblages on them. These assemblages on MP can occur in marine and freshwater. S. Oberbeckmann and her team applied high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing to determine MP-dependent and -independent assemblage factors. it was found that MP attracted several members of the families Hyphomonadaceae and Erythrobacteraceae. The team also found that the presence of bacteria associated with antibiotic resistance in MP turned it into hotspots for gene transfer. Further studies are yet to be done on the matter to find out more about what else bacteria can do on MP.


Original Article:

Oberbeckmann S, Kreikemeyer B and Labrenz M (2018) Environmental Factors Support the Formation of Specific Bacterial Assemblages on Microplastics. Front. Microbiol. 8:2709. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.02709