Enrichment Characteristics and Ecological Risk Prediction of Pathogens on Typical Microplastic Biofilms

As an emerging niche colonized by microorganisms，microplastics may selectively enrich pathogens，resulting in crucial ecological risks and potential threats to public health in aquatic environments. However，the enrichment characteristics and ecological risks of pathogens on different microplastic biofilms remain unclear. In this study，16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing technology was used to investigate the differences in the bacterial community structure，occurrence characteristics of pathogens，and prediction of ecological risks on five typical microplastic biofilms of polyethylene（PE），polypropylene（PP），polystyrene（PS），polyethylene terephthalate（PET），and polyvinyl chloride（PVC）through a field in-situ incubation experiment. The results showed that after 28 d of in situ incubation，the macroscopic biofilms were formed on the surface of all microplastics，and the diversity and richness of the bacterial community on all microplastic biofilms were higher than in the surrounding water，indicating that the microorganisms in the surrounding water were selectively enriched on microplastics. Each type of microplastic biofilm had formed a unique bacterial community structure；in particular，PVC microplastics were more inclined to selectively enrich the members of Proteobacteria. A total of 47 human pathogens were identified using the HPB database，including six antibiotic resistance pathogens belonging to the lists of critical priority control. The number and total abundance of human pathogens detected on microplastic biofilm were higher than those in the surrounding water，and the dominant pathogens such as Bartonella，Burkholderia，and Brucella were selectively enriched on microplastic biofilms. Microbial phenotype prediction results based on BugBase showed that three functional phenotypes including biofilm formation，mobile element contained，and potentially pathogenic on microplastic biofilms had significantly increased by 2.38%-5.57%，0.82%-7.13%，and 3.04%-8.30%，respectively，which were mainly contributed by α-Proteobacteria and γ-Proteobacteria. These results not only indicate that the selective enrichment of opportunistic pathogens on microplastic biofilms may lead to the increased risk of pathogenicity and antibiotic resistance co-spread but also provide reference for the accurate assessment of ecological risks caused by microplastic pollution in aquatic environments. © 2024 Science Press. All rights reserved.