Affiliations 

  • 1 Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Science, Swinburne University of Technology, Sarawak Campus, 93350 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia; International University of Business, Agriculture and Technology (IUBAT), Uttara, Dhaka 1230, Bangladesh
  • 2 Faculty of Resource Science & Technology, University Malaysia Sarawak, 94300, Sarawak, Malaysia
  • 3 Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia
  • 4 Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Science, Swinburne University of Technology, Sarawak Campus, 93350 Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia. Electronic address: mmueller@swinburne.edu.my
Mar Pollut Bull, 2021 May;166:112226.
PMID: 33711605 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112226

Abstract

Concerns about microplastic (MP) pollution arise from the rafting potential of these durable particles which potentially propagate harmful chemicals and bacteria across wide spatial gradients. While many studies have been conducted in the marine environment, knowledge of MPs in coastal and freshwater systems is limited. For this study, we exposed two MPs (polyethylene terephthalate and polylactic acid) to the undisturbed peat-draining Maludam River in Malaysia, for 6 months. The microbial communities on these MPs and the surrounding water were sequenced by MiSeq, while the genetic responses of these communities were assessed by GeoChip 5.0S. Microbial communities were dominated by the phyla Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria. Metabolic processes involved with carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, metal homeostasis, organic remediation and virulence had significantly different gene expression among the communities on MPs and in the surrounding water. Our study is the first to look at changes in gene expression of whole plastisphere communities.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.