Journal
JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
Volume 430, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.128443
Keywords
Editor; Jianhua Guo; Microplastics; Conjugative plasmid; Bacterial colonization; ARB; Conjugative pili
Categories
Funding
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [51979194]
- Academician Strategic Consulting Research Project of Chongqing Academy of Engineering and Technology Development Strategy of China [2021-YB-CQ-3]
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This study found that plasmid RP4 can promote bacterial colonization on microplastics, potentially due to the synthesis of conjugative pili proteins and intracellular ATP. Nanoalumina was found to promote bacterial colonization, while free nitrous acid inhibited bacterial colonization.
Both microplastic and bacterial antibiotic resistance have attracted attention worldwide. When microplastics coexist with antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB), which carry antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), ARB colonize the surface of microplastics, and a unique biofilm is formed. The ARB and ARGs in biofilms are denser and more difficult to remove. However, studies on the factors influencing the formation of microplastic biofilms are limited. In this study, plasmid RP4, which appeared in wastewater treatment plants, was found to be able to promote irreversible bacterial colonization of microplastics, and the hypothetical reason was conjugative pili expression. Then, the potential conjugative pili synthesis promoter nanoalumina and inhibitor free nitrous acid (FNA) were selected to test this hypothesis. Simultaneously, nanoalumina promoted and FNA inhibited bacterial colonization when RP4 existed. Combined with the gene expression and ATP analysis results, this hypothesis was confirmed, and the mechanism of RP4 on bacterial colonization was related mainly to conjugative pili protein synthesis and intracellular ATP. In this study, the effects of plasmid RP4, nanoalumina, and FNA on the formation of microplastic biofilms were reported, which has a certain reference value for other researchers exploring microplastic biofilms.
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