Location, Location, Location- Is Bioplastic a Home?

   Following recent legislative actions and an increase in public awareness, the production of bioplastic has been predicted to increase exponentially, and sadly, so is the volume of bioplastic in our oceans. As little is known about the comparative response of microbes between plastic and bioplastic, it is essential that we analyse the impact it has on microbial settling communities. Pinnell & Turner (2019) aimed to characterize and differentiate microbes that form biofilms on polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a plastic, polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), a bioplastic, in a benthic coastal habitat.

   A microcosm containing pellets comprised of ceramic (control), PET and PHA was deployed within The Laguna Madre, Texas, in which microorganisms were harvested after 28 days. A shotgun style 16S rRNA sequencing approach was applied to target all the DNA present and therefore ascertain an understanding of what microorganisms grew where. Operational taxonomic units were then assigned to the similar sequence variants of the 16S rDNA marker gene to map the microbial community composition.  

   It was found that the addition of plastic had no noticeable impact on microbial diversity, whereas the presence of bioplastic introduced a distinct sulphur reducing microbial community, indicating that they play an important role in PHA degradation. Given the importance of the oceanic sulphur cycle and microbial diversity, this study could provide a platform to potentially predict the impacts of passing new legislations regarding bioplastics on benthic microbial communities.

Pinnell, L. J., & Turner, J. W. (2019). Shotgun metagenomics reveals the benthic microbial community response to plastic and bioplastic in a coastal marine environment. Frontiers in microbiology, 10.