Microplastic pollution increases gene exchange in aquatic ecosystems
Microplastic pollution increases gene exchange in aquatic ecosystems
复制标题
微塑料污染增加了水生生态系统的基因交换
DOI：
10.1016/j.envpol.2018.02.058
复制
发表时间：
2018-06-01
影响因子：
8.9
通讯作者：
Grossart, Hans-Peter
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Arias-Andres, Maria;Kluemper, Uli;Grossart, Hans-Peter
Pollution by microplastics in aquatic ecosystems is accumulating at an unprecedented scale, emerging as a new surface for biofilm formation and gene exchange. In this study, we determined the permissiveness of aquatic bacteria towards a model antibiotic resistance plasmid, comparing communities that form biofilms on microplastics vs. those that are free-living. We used an exogenous and red-fluorescent E. coli donor strain to introduce the green-fluorescent broad-host-range plasmid pKJKS which encodes for trimethoprim resistance. We demonstrate an increased frequency of plasmid transfer in bacteria associated with microplastics compared to bacteria that are free-living or in natural aggregates. Moreover, comparison of communities grown on polycarbonate filters showed that increased gene exchange occurs in a broad range of phylogenetically-diverse bacteria. Our results indicate horizontal gene transfer in this habitat could distinctly affect the ecology of aquatic microbial communities on a global scale. The spread of antibiotic resistance through microplastics could also have profound consequences for the evolution of aquatic bacteria and poses a neglected hazard for human health. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
