Microplastics and their interactions with microbiota

Ali Parsaeimehr; Cassandra M Miller; Gulnihal Ozbay

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15104

Microplastics and their interactions with microbiota

Heliyon. 2023 Mar 31;9(4):e15104. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15104. eCollection 2023 Apr.

Authors

Ali Parsaeimehr¹, Cassandra M Miller¹, Gulnihal Ozbay¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, College of Agriculture, Science, and Technology, Delaware State University, Dover, DE, 19901, USA.

Abstract

As a new pollutant, Microplastics (MPs) are globally known for their negative impacts on different ecosystems and living organisms. MPs are easily taken up by the ecosystem in a variety of organisms due to their small size, and cause immunological, neurological, and respiratory diseases in the impacted organism. Moreover, in the impacted environments, MPs can release toxic additives and act as a vector and scaffold for colonization and transportation of specific microbes and lead to imbalances in microbiota and the biogeochemical and nutrients dynamic. To address the concerns on controlling the MPs pollution on the microbiota and ecosystem, the microbial biodegradation of MPs can be potentially considered as an effective environment friendly approach. The objectives of the presented paper are to provide information on the toxicological effects of MPs on microbiota, to discuss the negative impacts of microbial colonization of MPs, and to introduce the microbes with biodegradation ability of MPs.

Keywords: Actinobacteria; Biodegradation; Microbiota; Microplastics; Toxicological effects.

Publication types

Review