Life in the "Plastisphere": Microbial Communities on Plastic Marine Debris
Life in the "Plastisphere": Microbial Communities on Plastic Marine Debris
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DOI：
10.1021/es401288x
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发表时间：
2013-07-02
影响因子：
11.4
通讯作者：
Amaral-Zettler, Linda A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Zettler, Erik R.;Mincer, Tracy J.;Amaral-Zettler, Linda A.
塑料是最丰富的海洋废弃物形式，全球产量不断增加，并记录了对一些海洋环境的影响，但人们对塑料对开阔海洋生态系统的影响知之甚少，特别是对微生物群落的影响。在北大西洋多个地点收集的塑料海洋废弃物（PMD）进行了分析，扫描电子显微镜（SEM）和下一代测序，以表征附着的微生物群落。我们揭示了一个由异养生物、自养生物、捕食者和共生体组成的多样化的微生物群落，我们称之为“塑料圈”。在PMD表面中可视化的凹坑符合细菌形状，表明烃聚合物的活性水解。小亚基rRNA基因调查确定了几种烃降解细菌，支持微生物在降解PMD中发挥作用的可能性。一些Plastisphere成员可能是机会致病菌（作者，未发表的数据），例如占我们塑料样品之一的弧菌属的特定成员。塑料圈群落与周围的地表水不同，这意味着塑料在开阔的海洋中是一种新的生态栖息地。塑料比大多数天然漂浮海洋基质具有更长的半衰期，并且具有促进微生物定植和生物膜形成的疏水表面，不同于海洋上层的本地基质。
Plastics are the most abundant form of marine debris, with global production rising and documented impacts in some marine environments, but the influence of plastic on open ocean ecosystems is poorly understood, particularly for microbial communities. Plastic marine debris (PMD) collected at multiple locations in the North Atlantic was analyzed with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and next generation sequencing to characterize the attached microbial communities. We unveiled a diverse microbial community of heterotrophs, autotrophs, predators, and symbionts, a community we refer to as the "Plastisphere". Pits visualized in the PMD surface conformed to bacterial shapes suggesting active hydrolysis of the hydrocarbon polymer. Small-subunit rRNA gene surveys identified several hydrocarbon degrading bacteria, supporting the possibility that microbes play a role in degrading PMD. Some Plastisphere members may be opportunistic pathogens (the authors, unpublished data) such as specific members of the genus Vibrio that dominated one of our plastic samples. Plastisphere communities are distinct from surrounding surface water, implying that plastic serves as a novel ecological habitat in the open ocean. Plastic has a longer half-life than most natural floating marine substrates, and a hydrophobic surface that promotes microbial colonization and biofilm formation, differing from autochthonous substrates in the upper layers of the ocean.