Project description:Biodegradable plastics are one possible solution for reducing plastic waste, yet the mechanisms and organisms involved in their degradation in the aquatic environment remain understudied. In this study, we have enriched a microbial community from North Sea water and sediment, capable of growing on the polyester poly(butylene succinate). This culture was grown on two other biodegradable polyesters, polycaprolactone and ecovio® FT (a PBAT-based blended biodegradable plastic), and the differences between community structure and activity on these three polymers were determined by metagenomics and metaproteomics. We have seen that the plastic supplied drives the community structure and activity. Setups growing on ecovio® FT were more diverse, yet showed the lowest degradation, while poly(butylene succinate) and polycaprolactone resulted in a less diverse community but much higher degradation efficiencies. The dominating species were Alcanivorax sp., Thalassobius sp., or Pseudomonas sp., depending on the polymer supplied. Furthermore, we have observed that Gammaproteobacteria were more abundant and active within the biofilm and Alphaproteobacteria within the free-living fraction of the enrichments. Two of the three PETase-like enzymes isolated were expressed as tandems (Ple -tan1 &Ple – tan2) and all three were produced by Pseudomonas sp. Of those, Ple-tan1 was most active on all three substrates and also the most thermostable. Overall, we could show that all three plastics investigated can be mineralized by bacteria naturally occurring within the marine environment and characterize some of the enzymes involved in the degradation process.
Project description:Plastics in the ocean create the "plastisphere", a diverse habitat hosting various life forms. Other than the pollution induced by plastics, the co-occurrence of primary producers, symbiotic organisms, decomposers, and pathogens within the plastisphere raises questions about how they influence the dynamics of marine ecosystems. Here, we used a shotgun DNA-sequencing approach to describe the species thriving on floating plastics collected in two Mediterranean sites. Our findings revealed many species of bacteria, eukaryotes, viruses, and archaea on each plastic. Proteobacteria was dominant (70% of reads in the entire dataset), with other groups such as Ascomycota fungi (11%) and Bacteroidetes (9%) also being represented. The community structure was not affected by the polymeric composition or the plastic shape. Notably, pathogenic Vibrio species, including V. campbelli, V. alginolyticus, and V. coralliilyticus, were among the most abundant species. Viruses, despite showing lower relative abundances, occurred in all samples, especially Herpesvirales, Caudovirales, and Poxviridae groups. A significant finding was the presence of the White Spot Syndrome virus (WSSV). This pathogen, responsible for devastating outbreaks in aquaculture systems, had not been previously reported in the marine plastisphere. Our study emphasizes the need for further investigation into the ecological and economic impacts of plastisphere organisms in the ocean.
Project description:Microbial colonization patterns and biodegradation of petrochemical and biodegradable plastics in lake waters: insights from a field experiment