Ecology and risks of the global plastisphere as a newly expanding microbial habitat

Changchao Li; Michael R. Gillings; Chao Zhang; Qinglin Chen; Dong Zhu; Jie Wang; Kankan Zhao; Qicheng Xu; Polly Hangmei Leung; Xiangdong Li; Jian Liu; Ling Jin

doi:10.1016/j.xinn.2023.100543

The Innovation > 2024 Vol. 5 > No. 1

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Ecology and risks of the global plastisphere as a newly expanding microbial habitat

1.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
2.
Environment Research Institute, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, China
3.
State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China
4.
ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia
5.
Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Ningbo Urban Environment Observation and Research Station, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China
6.
Beijing Key Laboratory of Farmland Soil Pollution Prevention and Remediation, College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
7.
Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
8.
Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Solid Organic Waste Resource Utilization, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
9.
Department of Health Technology and Informatics and Research Institute for Future Food, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
10.
Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou 511458, China

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Corresponding authors: ecology@sdu.edu.cn (J.L.); ling.jin@polyu.edu.hk (L.J.)
Received Date: August 10, 2023

Accepted Date: November 17, 2023

Published Online: November 22, 2023

The Innovation 5(1), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xinn.2023.100543 | Cite this article

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PUBLIC SUMMARY

PUBLIC SUMMARY
1. ■ The plastisphere selectively assembles a microbiome distinct from that of natural habitats.
2. ■ New microbial coexistence patterns are yielded in the plastisphere.
3. ■ Altered microbial functions in the plastisphere threaten natural ecosystem functioning.
4. ■ Enrichment of pathogens in the plastisphere poses a critical challenge to "One Health".

ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT

Plastic offers a new niche for microorganisms, the plastisphere. The everincreasing emission of plastic waste makes it critical to understand the microbial ecology of the plastisphere and associated effects. Here, we present a global fingerprint of the plastisphere, analyzing samples collected from freshwater, seawater, and terrestrial ecosystems. The plastisphere assembles a distinct microbial community that has a clearly higher heterogeneity and a more deterministically dominated assembly compared to natural habitats. New coexistence patterns—loose and fragile networks with mostly specialist linkages among microorganisms that are rarely found in natural habitats—are seen in the plastisphere. Plastisphere microbiomes generally have a great potential to metabolize organic compounds, which could accelerate carbon turnover. Microorganisms involved in the nitrogen cycle are also altered in the plastisphere, especially in freshwater plastispheres, where a high abundance of denitrifiers may increase the release of nitrite (aquatic toxicant) and nitrous oxide (greenhouse gas). Enrichment of animal, plant, and human pathogens means that the plastisphere could become an increasingly mobile reservoir of harmful microorganisms. Our findings highlight that if the trajectory of plastic emissions is not reversed, the expanding plastisphere could pose critical planetary health challenges.

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ABOUT THIS ARTICLE

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Changchao Li, Michael R. Gillings, Chao Zhang, Qinglin Chen, Dong Zhu, Jie Wang, Kankan Zhao, Qicheng Xu, Polly Hangmei Leung, Xiangdong Li, Jian Liu, Ling Jin. Ecology and risks of the global plastisphere as a newly expanding microbial habitat[J]. The Innovation, 2024, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xinn.2023.100543

Changchao Li, Michael R. Gillings, Chao Zhang, Qinglin Chen, Dong Zhu, Jie Wang, Kankan Zhao, Qicheng Xu, Polly Hangmei Leung, Xiangdong Li, Jian Liu, Ling Jin. Ecology and risks of the global plastisphere as a newly expanding microbial habitat[J]. The Innovation, 2024, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xinn.2023.100543

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