Spatial structure in the "Plastisphere": Molecular resources for imaging microscopic communities on plastic marine debris.

ABSTRACT: Plastic marine debris (PMD) affects spatial scales of life from microbes to whales. However, understanding interactions between plastic and microbes in the "Plastisphere"-the thin layer of life on the surface of PMD-has been technology-limited. Research into microbe-microbe and microbe-substrate interactions requires knowledge of community phylogenetic composition but also tools to visualize spatial distributions of intact microbial biofilm communities. We developed a CLASI-FISH (combinatorial labelling and spectral imaging - fluorescence in situ hybridization) method using confocal microscopy to study Plastisphere communities. We created a probe set consisting of three existing phylogenetic probes (targeting all Bacteria, Alpha-, and Gammaproteobacteria) and four newly designed probes (ta

SUBMITTER: Schlundt C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7318237 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature