Microplastic impacts archaeal abundance, microbial communities, and their network connectivity in a Sub-Saharan soil environment.

ABSTRACT: Unmanaged plastic waste in Sub-Saharan Africa pollutes large areas and degrades into microplastics (MPs). Surfaces of MP are colonized by bacteria and fungi, resulting in the plastisphere. Plastispheres from high population hotspots on the African continent enrich pathogenic fungi, posing a potential threat to human health. Prokaryotes in such plastispheres are unknown to date. Thus, we analysed the prokaryotic microbiome of native plastisphere and soil by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, with a focus on community assembly mechanisms and putative pathogenic bacteria. A strong plastic-dependent depletion of archaeal ammonia oxidizing Nitrososphaeraceae was observed. Prokaryotic but not archaeal beta diversity significantly differed between plastisphere and soil microbiomes. The prokaryoti

SUBMITTER: Rohrbach S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12481198 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature