Continuous generation and release of microplastics and nanoplastics from polystyrene by plastic-degrading marine bacteria

Bacterial diversity in the biofilms on mariculture polystyrene foam at Xiamen’s coast

“…Bacillus paralicheniformis G1 isolated from deep sea sediments also has the ability to degrade PS (Ganesh Kumar et al, 2021). Additionally, bacteria Alcanivorax, Acinetobacter and Brevundimonas have been as a marine PS-degrading bacterium by our group (Liu et al, 2023;Lv et al, 2024;Zhao et al, 2024), as well as in soil environments and insect guts (Galgali et al, 2002;Oikawa et al, 2003;Ward et al, 2006;Atiq et al, 2010;Asmita et al, 2015;Mohan et al, 2016;Sekhar et al, 2016;Kim et al, 2020;Lee et al, 2020;Wang et al, 2020;Kim et al, 2021)prior to this study (Figure 4C). Pseudomonas traditionally considered to be degraders of PS found only in soil environments and insect gut, have recently been discovered to dominate in marine PS biofilms (Kumar et al, 2021;Bae and Yoo, 2022;Shi et al, 2022).…”

“…The formation of biofilms contributes to the biodegradation of plastics (Mor and Sivan, 2008), but no PSdegrading bacteria have been found. Halomonadaceae, the largest halophilic family, could degrade organic pollutants such as crude oil (Hassanshahian et al, 2012) and phenol (Bonfáet al, 2013), recently we found Halomonas titanicae can degrade PS and lead to microplastic and nanoplastic generation (Lv et al, 2024). Exiguobacteriaceae includes PS-degrading groups, with members such as Exiguobacterium undae DR14 and Exiguobacterium sibiricum DR11 identified as being capable of degrading PS (Chauhan et al, 2018).…”

“…As EPS waste remains afloat in seawater over time, diverse and active biofilms are formed on its surface. Our recent studies suggest that biofilm microbes may be involved in the degradation and fragmentation of PS plastics (Lv et al, 2023), secreting a variety of enzymes that participate in the process of plastic biodegradation (Howard and McCarthy, 2023). This indicates that the formation of marine plastic biofilms can have an impact on the fragmentation and biodegradation of marine plastics, and potentially influencing global biogeochemical cycles.…”

New Identities of Micro- and Nanoplastics Formed from Biological Effects (Bio-MNPs)

“…In addition, several subproducts of lower molecular weight polyethylene (PE) were detected when bacteria extracted from the intestines of waxworms were used to degrade PE . Lv et al confirmed that two marine bacteria ( Alcanivorax xenomutans and Halomonas titanicae ) generated MNPs during polystyrene (PS) degradation. Dawson et al identified the degradation of MPs through ingestion.…”