Abstract
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health threat. Antibiotics, heavy metals, and microplastics are environmental pollutants that together potentially have a positive synergetic effect on the development, persistence, transport, and ecology of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the environment. To evaluate this, a wide array of experimental methods would be needed to quantify the occurrence of antibiotics, heavy metals, and microplastics as well as associated microbial communities in the natural environment. In this mini-review, we outline the current technologies used to characterize microplastics based ecosystems termed “plastisphere” and their AMR promoting elements (antibiotics, heavy metals, and microbial inhabitants) and highlight emerging technologies that could be useful for systems-level investigations of AMR in the plastisphere.
Introduction
The increasing resistance of pathogenic bacteria to common antibiotics (AB) found in human and veterinary settings worldwide (WHO, 2018) highlights the urgent need for improved surveillance programs () and research to hinder further escalation of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) (). Although the number is debatable (), according to , the global annual death toll due to AMR could rise to 10 million by 2050.
The emerging contaminant—plastic—has potential to further enhance AMR by providing porous micro ecosystems termed “plastisphere” (). In the environment, plastic does not biodegrade but fragmentizes into smaller fractions such as microplastics (MPs) (1 μm–5 mm) () or further into nanoplastics (NPs) (≤1 μm) (). MPs have been increasingly detected in all the ecosystems, though due to rapid microbial colonization and subsequent density changes, about 70% of the MPs in the aquatic environment sedimentates and thus the sediments, along with soils that receive MPs contamination from sludge application, have been considered as the sinks of MPs (; ; ). Plastic is also ingested and inhaled by humans (; ) as indicated by detection of plastic in stool samples () and human lung tissue (), respectively. Compared to MPs, NPs have been scarcely studied due to limitations of current analytical techniques (), yet have speculated future NP concentrations in mass may become 1014 times higher than currently measured MP concentrations.
The plastisphere creates a habitat that promotes attachment of and subsequent biofilm production by microbes (Zettler et al., 2013). In this habitat, the microbes are also in close vicinity of MP-associated pollutants, such as (ABs) and heavy metals (HMs) (Figure 1). This combination of being surrounded by pollutants while being protected by biofilm can lead to possible change in the microbial species distribution (; ). ABs are considered to be the primary drivers of AMR (), originating largely from inefficient wastewater treatment processes and pharmaceutical discharge (Wilkinson and Boxall, 2019). HMs are accumulating in the environment via waste flows from industrial activities (mining, smelting, fertilizer use, sewage sludge application), but may also be mobilized due to natural processes (e.g., bedrock weathering) (; Zhou et al., 2020). HM pollution drives the selection for metal resistance genes (MRGs) and correlates with increased occurrences and amount of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) (Figure 1; ; ; ).
FIGURE 1
It is hypothesized that weathering can intensify both HM (
In this mini-review, we discuss the role of plastisphere in the development of AMR, and the current technologies used to address various aspects of AB-HM-MP pollution and highlight the data gaps, novel techniques, and approaches.
Characterization of Plastisphere-Associated Antibiotics and Heavy Metals
MP abundance and polymer type are determined by microscopy and spectroscopy methods (Figure 2). The first steps(s) in analyzing plastic from environmental samples usually comprises of different separation and/or purification procedures. Separation frequently consists of passing samples through sieves or filter membranes (
FIGURE 2

Flow chart with current and novel (written in bold and blue color) approaches for studying the effects of plastisphere-associated pollutants (heavy metals, antibiotics) on antimicrobial resistance. Abbreviations for technologies in alphabetical order: AAS, Atomic absorption spectroscopy; AFM, Atomic Force Microscopy; AFM-IR/Raman, Atomic force microscopy infrared/Raman; CLSM, Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy; DeepARG, Deep learning model for antibiotic resistance genes; EM, Electron microscopy; FCM, Flow cytometry; PFGE, Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis; FM, Fluorescence microscopy; FTIR, Fourier transform infrared microscopy; GC-MS, Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry; GREACE, Genome Replication Engineering Assisted Continuous Evolution; HPLC, High-performance liquid chromatography; HT-qPCR, High-throughput qPCR; ICP-MS, Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry; LM, Light microscopy; MALDI-MSI/FISH, Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization–Mass spectrometry imaging/Fluorescence in situ hybridization; microSPLIT, Microbial Split-Pool Ligation Transcriptomics; Py-GCToF, Pyrolysis–Gas Chromatography Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry; RT-PCR, Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction; SEM, Scanning Electron Microscopy; UPLC, Ultra-performance liquid chromatography; UV-VIS, Ultraviolet–visible spectrophotometry; XRD, X-ray diffraction; WGS, Whole genome sequencing; 1D/2D-LC-MS/MS, One dimensional/Two dimensional online separation-liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry; 2D-PAGE, Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. References in numerical order: (1) = (Zhang Y. et al., 2020), (2) = (
Absorption of light and mass-to-charge ratio are used to measure the content of HMs within and on the surface of MPs via atomic absorption spectroscopy (
Characterization of Plastisphere-Inhabiting Bacteria
MPs in water bodies form an ideal substratum for bacterial biofilm formation as they adsorb nutrients and organic matter from the essentially nutrient-poor water habitat supporting the growth of bacteria. Generally, the colonization of MPs is a very rapid process (within 24 h) depending on a variety of factors (
Bacterial association with MPs is analyzed by SEM and fluorescence microscopy) (Zettler et al., 2013;
Metagenomics with possible combination of metatranscriptomics permits analysis of the species present in the microbial community, including non-culturable bacteria, while simultaneously studying regulation of ARGs, MRGs, and other genes at the mRNA/functional level within the whole community (
Sequencing in combination with long-term experiments can detect mutations that occur in bacteria during prolonged growth in HM rich environments (
Overcoming the Challenges to the Plastisphere Characterization Research Gaps
The most optimal solution for future development of a standard method for quantifying and characterizing the composition of smaller fractions of MPs, including NPs (<1 μm), might be to merge completely new analytical methods with the existing technologies (
Change in MPs and NPs composition and their affinity for pollutants and microbes can be uncovered by merging analytical and sequencing technology with in situ and ex situ experiments. Ex situ batch sorption experiments provide the opportunity to focus on specific parameters (
Accumulation of MPs in the food chain and the effect on spread of AMR should be investigated by long-term in vivo studies combined with multidisciplinary tools such as NGS sequencing, ICP-MS, and vibrational spectroscopy methods. Previous in vivo studies focusing on influence of MP accumulation are inconsistent in their methods and yield conflicting results (
Novel Approaches and Methods for Addressing AMR Knowledge Gaps in the Plastisphere
Obtaining a wider overview of microbial communities, including spread of ARGs and MRGs in different habitats, is feasible with modern NGS approaches. There are two aspects that should be considered in future analyses: (1) presence of non-culturable bacteria and (2) expression level of resistant genes in the bacterial communities. Integrating metagenomics and metatranscriptomics with machine-learning tools such as DeepARG, trained to find the existing and novel ARGs and MRGs, is a suitable option for this challenge (
Proteomic and metabolomic pathways in bacteria play an important role in AMR (
Microbial colonization and ability to form biofilm are also heterogenous characteristics of microbes, and they play a key role in AMR. Microfluidic platforms show great potential for enabling complex biofilm studies (Yawata et al., 2016;
Conclusion
In this mini-review, we highlighted technologies that have been used for analyzing different aspects of plastisphere-associated AMR. Although we found that many different aspects of AMR have been explored through multiple studies using advanced methods, knowledge gaps remain. To address these gaps, we summarize currently available technologies potentially suitable for future research. This should provide analytical tools for scientists of diverse backgrounds seeking answers for complex urgent problems: HM- and AB-contaminated plastisphere-associated promotion of AMR.
Statements
Author contributions
All authors listed have made a substantial, direct and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.
Funding
This research was funded by the TTÜ development program 2016-2022, project code 2014-2020.4.01.16-0032, the Estonian Research Council grants MOBJD556 (SB), MOBTP109 (OS) and PUT1512 (MH), and the European Regional Development Fund project TK134 (AK).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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Summary
Keywords
antimicrobial resistance, microplastics, heavy metals, plastisphere, emerging technologies, antibiotics
Citation
Bartkova S, Kahru A, Heinlaan M and Scheler O (2021) Techniques Used for Analyzing Microplastics, Antimicrobial Resistance and Microbial Community Composition: A Mini-Review. Front. Microbiol. 12:603967. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.603967
Received
08 September 2020
Accepted
10 February 2021
Published
26 March 2021
Volume
12 - 2021
Edited by
Lisa M. Durso, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, United States
Reviewed by
Dan Miller, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, United States; Gargi Singh, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, India
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© 2021 Bartkova, Kahru, Heinlaan and Scheler.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Simona Bartkova, simona.bartkova@taltech.ee; simonabartkova86@hotmail.comMargit Heinlaan, margit.heinlaan@kbfi.ee
†These authors have contributed equally and share the last authorship
This article was submitted to Antimicrobials, Resistance and Chemotherapy, a section of the journal Frontiers in Microbiology
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