ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Terrestrial Microbiology
This article is part of the Research TopicMicrobial Solutions for Soil Health and Remediation: From Natural Diversity to Engineered CommunitiesView all 5 articles
Synthetic Microbiota for Microplastic Degradation Modulates Rhizosphere Fungal Diversity and Metabolic Function in Highland Barley
Provisionally accepted
- 1Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang, China
- 2Luzhou Vocational and Technical College, Luzhou, China
- 3Chengdu University, Chengdu, China
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Microplastics (MPs) pose a significant threat to agricultural ecosystems and crop quality. This study investigates the effects of polystyrene microplastics (two particle sizes: <1 mm and 1–5 mm; three concentrations: 1, 10, and 50 g/m²) and a synthetic microbiota designed for microplastic degradation (MPDSM) on the grain nutritional profile and rhizosphere fungal communities of highland barley. Our findings revealed that MPDSM application significantly enhanced the degradation of microplastics, with a 19.9% weight loss for large particles and a 7.4% weight loss for small particles. MPs contamination reduced zinc content in grains, whereas particle size differentially influenced phytochemicals: larger MPs increased flavonoid levels, while smaller MPs elevated polyphenols and vitamin E. MPDSM treatment improved key nutritional indices, including fat and vitamin C content. Furthermore, α-diversity of rhizosphere fungi was elevated across all treatments except for the medium-concentration large MPs. MPDSM specifically enriched fungal diversity and drove community differentiation, with FUNGuild analysis revealing a significant functional shift toward Fungal_Parasite-Undefined_Saprotroph profiles. These findings highlight the potential of synthetic microbiota to mitigate microplastic pollution via remodeling the rhizosphere fungal community and its metabolic functions, thereby offering a novel strategy for bioremediation in contaminated agricultural systems.
Keywords: Polystyrene microplastics, synthetic microbiota, Rhizosphere fungi, bioremediation, Fungal community diversity
Received: 23 Sep 2025; Accepted: 18 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Deng, Xiang, Zhang, Wang, Zhou, Liu, Li and He. 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) or licensor 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: Guiqiang He, guiqianghe@swust.edu.cn
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