Dangerous hitchhikers? Evidence for potentially pathogenic Vibrio spp. on microplastic particles.

By I. Kirstein, Sidika Kirmizi, A. Wichels, Alexa Garin-Fernandez, R. Erler, Martin G. J. Löder, G. Gerdts. Marine Environmental Research, 2016

764 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The taxonomic composition of biofilms on marine microplastics is widely unknown. Recent sequencing results indicate that potentially pathogenic Vibrio spp. might be present on floating microplastics. Hence, these particles might function as vectors for the dispersal of pathogens. Microplastics and water samples collected in the North and Baltic Sea were subjected to selective enrichment for pathogenic Vibrio species. Bacterial colonies were isolated from CHROMagar™Vibrio and assigned to Vibrio spp. on the species level by MALDI-TOF MS (Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionisation - Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry). Respective polymers were identified by ATR FT-IR (Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform - Infrared Spectroscopy). We discovered potentially pathogenic Vibrio parahaemolyticus on a number of microplastic particles, e.g. polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene from North/Baltic Sea. This study confirms the indicated occurrence of potentially pathogenic bacteria on marine microplastics and highlights the urgent need for detailed biogeographical analyses of marine microplastics.

Subfields: Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Pollution

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/50d3b334d921d0cdf4c2908ec43a42794398baa3

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering

1. P. Lindeque
2. M. Cole
3. M. Seeley
4. E. Zeng
5. S. Lambert
6. Lei Mai
7. T. Hoellein
8. M. L. Guardia

In Pollution

1. P. Lindeque
2. M. Seeley
3. R. Hale
4. E. Zeng
5. Lei Mai
6. M. L. Guardia
7. M. Cole
8. C. Scherer

Citations in the corpus

• Microplastics in Fish and Shellfish – A Threat to Seafood Safety? (2020, background): “the microorganisms in the surrounding water, and even possible pathogenic species have been detected (EFSA 2016; Kirstein et al. 2016).”
• Microplastic-Associated Biofilms: A Comparison of Freshwater and Marine Environments (2018, background): “on marine plastics conclusively confirmed by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-ToF MS) [60].”
• Interactions of Microplastics with Freshwater Biota (2018, background): “In contrast, the colonization of MPs with pathogens [87] and toxic algae/bacteria might induce infections/chemical toxicity or avoidance of “bad tasting” MPs.”
• A Global Perspective on Microplastics (2020, background): “As previously discussed, it has been demonstrated that microplastics can harbor pathogens (Kirstein et al., 2016; Viršek et al., 2017).”
• Global ecological, social and economic impacts of marine plastic. (2019, background): “Marine plastic is an attractive substrate that is quickly and intensively colonised by a wide range of opportunistic species (Kirstein et al., 2016).”
• Airborne microplastics: Consequences to human health? (2018, neutral): “Unique communities of microorganism have been found using aquatic microplastics as substrates due to their high surface area (Oberbeckmann et al., 2015), including potentially pathogenic organisms such as Vibrio spp. (Kirstein et al., 2016).”