TY - JOUR

T1 - Microplastic polymer properties as deterministic factors driving terrestrial plastisphere microbiome assembly and succession in the field

AU - Rohrbach, Stephan

AU - Gkoutselis, Gerasimos

AU - Hink, Linda

AU - Weig, Alfons R

AU - Obst, Martin

AU - Diekmann, Astrid

AU - Ho, Adrian

AU - Rambold, Gerhard

AU - Horn, Marcus A

N1 - Funding Information: This study was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)—SFB 1357–391977956; subproject C04 and A02. Our gratitude is dedicated to Zweckverband Abfallwirtschaft Region Hannover, Germany, for the possibility to perform our field study at their property and for support of their team during sampling. The authors would also like to thank Peter Strohriegl and Lisa Weber (CRC 1357 Microplastic subproject Z01) for provision of microplastic particles and measurements of MP properties. Furthermore, we are thankful to Antonia Freiberger (BayCEER, Bayreuth; Germany) for her technical assistance during the CLSM. Anne Herwig and Leopold Sauheitl (Institute of Soil Science, Leibniz University Hannover, Germany) are acknowledged for technical support during the soil characterization. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.

PY - 2023/12/19

Y1 - 2023/12/19

N2 - Environmental microplastic (MP) is ubiquitous in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems providing artificial habitats for microbes. Mechanisms of MP colonization, MP polymer impacts, and effects on soil microbiomes are largely unknown in terrestrial systems. Therefore, we experimentally tested the hypothesis that MP polymer type is an important deterministic factor affecting MP community assembly by incubating common MP polymer types in situ in landfill soil for 14 months. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing indicated that MP polymers have specific impacts on plastisphere microbiomes, which are subsets of the soil microbiome. Chloroflexota, Gammaproteobacteria, certain Nitrososphaerota, and Nanoarchaeota explained differences among MP polymers and time points. Plastisphere microbial community composition derived from different MP diverged over time and was enriched in potential pathogens. PICRUSt predictions of pathway abundances and quantitative PCR of functional marker genes indicated that MP polymers exerted an ambivalent effect on genetic potentials of biogeochemical cycles. Overall, the data indicates that (i) polymer type as deterministic factor rather than stochastic factors drives plastisphere community assembly, (ii) MP impacts greenhouse gas metabolism, xenobiotic degradation and pathogen distribution, and (iii) MP serves as an ideal model system for studying fundamental questions in microbial ecology such as community assembly mechanisms in terrestrial environments.

AB - Environmental microplastic (MP) is ubiquitous in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems providing artificial habitats for microbes. Mechanisms of MP colonization, MP polymer impacts, and effects on soil microbiomes are largely unknown in terrestrial systems. Therefore, we experimentally tested the hypothesis that MP polymer type is an important deterministic factor affecting MP community assembly by incubating common MP polymer types in situ in landfill soil for 14 months. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing indicated that MP polymers have specific impacts on plastisphere microbiomes, which are subsets of the soil microbiome. Chloroflexota, Gammaproteobacteria, certain Nitrososphaerota, and Nanoarchaeota explained differences among MP polymers and time points. Plastisphere microbial community composition derived from different MP diverged over time and was enriched in potential pathogens. PICRUSt predictions of pathway abundances and quantitative PCR of functional marker genes indicated that MP polymers exerted an ambivalent effect on genetic potentials of biogeochemical cycles. Overall, the data indicates that (i) polymer type as deterministic factor rather than stochastic factors drives plastisphere community assembly, (ii) MP impacts greenhouse gas metabolism, xenobiotic degradation and pathogen distribution, and (iii) MP serves as an ideal model system for studying fundamental questions in microbial ecology such as community assembly mechanisms in terrestrial environments.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85141367687&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1111/1462-2920.16234

DO - 10.1111/1462-2920.16234

M3 - Article

C2 - 36224114

VL - 25

SP - 2681

EP - 2697

JO - Environmental microbiology

JF - Environmental microbiology

SN - 1462-2912

IS - 12

ER -