Plastic is readily colonised by a microbial biofilm and a leading hypothesis states that all plastics possess the same microbial community. In a field incubation experiment, Pinto et al. (2019) rejected this hypothesis. Most plastics had a bacterial community structure that was only marginally different to that on glass. However, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) was colonised by a strikingly different community, with dominance of the families Alteromonadaceae and Oceanospirillaceae in ambient and shaded light conditions, respectively. Bacterial clades were identified using the 16S rRNA V3-V4 hypervariable region.
The study suggests that each polymer type supports a distinct bacterial community, potentially driven by differential adsorption of organic compounds. Furthermore, the uniqueness of the PVC community is likely due to the presence of phthalates, which can be utilised by Alteromonadaceae and Oceanospirillaceae. Some members of these families are also known to degrade hydrocarbons and thrive in oil spills. Although current research is suggesting that such bacteria degrade plastic, there is no direct evidence for plastic-derived carbon in bacterial cells (Pinto, personal communication). We are certainly a long way from finding a bacterium that can help clean up our mess! And if we could find such an organism, would that really improve our situation?
Pinto, M., Langer, T. M., Hüffer, T., Hofmann, T., & Herndl, G. J. (2019). The composition of bacterial communities associated with plastic biofilms differs between different polymers and stages of biofilm succession. PLoS One, 14(6), e0217165.
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