- In the Media, Featured
- 06 Dec 2023
A team of scientists from SCELSE at NTU, comprising of Principal Investigator Assoc. Prof Cao Bin, PhD student Jonas Koh, Research Associate Zin Thida Cho and Research Fellow Sakcham Bairoliya, has found both potential threats and promising resources in the thriving colonies of bacteria and fungi on plastic trash washed up on Singapore shores.
When plastics enter the ocean, microorganisms attach to and colonise them, forming an ecological community known as the ‘Plastisphere’. Despite the millions of tonnes of plastic trash in the world’s oceans, little is known about how the plastisphere assembles and interacts with its plastic hosts in tropical marine environments.
To understand the plastic-microbes interaction, the researchers extracted DNA information of plastispheres gathered from 14 coastal locations in Singapore. They found potential plastic-eating bacteria and harmful microbes thriving on the samples. The study, published in Environment International in September, is among the few plastisphere studies in the Southeast Asian tropical marine and coastal environment, including coral reefs, mangrove forests, seagrass beds, beaches, and open waters.
The study, published in Environment International in September, is among the few plastisphere studies in the Southeast Asian tropical marine and coastal environment, including coral reefs, mangrove forests, seagrass beds, beaches, and open waters.
Lead author of the study, SCELSE PhD student Jonas Koh said, “The plastisphere can influence the fate of plastic debris, breaking it down into microplastics, causing them to sink or float, for example. Yet very little is known about what kinds of microbes are in the plastisphere in tropical coastal marine environments. How do they interact with each other? How does the plastic debris influence their development? We want to know the answers to these questions, which can help policymakers make informed decisions to reduce potential threats to our Southeast Asia ocean ecosystem.”
Co-author, Zin Thida Cho said, “The fact that potentially harmful microorganisms have been discovered on the plastic debris is worrying, as this suggests that marine plastics create a pathway for them to move between habitats, potentially infecting ocean life across Southeast Asia.”
Potential microbial resource for use in plastic management
Alongside the discovery of potentially harmful microorganisms, the team also found potential plastic-eating bacteria, such as Muricauda, Halomonas, and Brevundimonas, bringing hope that the bacterial strains might be exploited to speed up plastic degradation.
Co-author, Dr Sakcham Bairoliya said, “The presence of potential plastic-eating bacteria in the coastal plastispheres presents an opportunity to use these microorganisms in the plastics degradation process. Our lab plans to explore this area in future studies to contribute to developing environmentally friendly plastics and novel plastic waste management processes.”
In future studies, the SCELSE team is also looking to investigate how the microbial communities in the plastisphere adhere to different types of plastics and how they evolve in different environments.
