Microplastics accumulate fungal pathogens in terrestrial ecosystems

Abstract Microplastic (MP) is a pervasive pollutant in nature that is colonised by diverse groups of microbes, including potentially pathogenic species. Fungi have been largely neglected in this context, despite their affinity for plastics and their impact as pathogens. To unravel the role of MP as...

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Autores principales:	Gerasimos Gkoutselis, Stephan Rohrbach, Janno Harjes, Martin Obst, Andreas Brachmann, Marcus A. Horn, Gerhard Rambold
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/b99127848bc048029916cc028373be07
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:b99127848bc048029916cc028373be072021-12-02T16:08:07ZMicroplastics accumulate fungal pathogens in terrestrial ecosystems10.1038/s41598-021-92405-72045-2322https://doaj.org/article/b99127848bc048029916cc028373be072021-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92405-7https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Microplastic (MP) is a pervasive pollutant in nature that is colonised by diverse groups of microbes, including potentially pathogenic species. Fungi have been largely neglected in this context, despite their affinity for plastics and their impact as pathogens. To unravel the role of MP as a carrier of fungal pathogens in terrestrial ecosystems and the immediate human environment, epiplastic mycobiomes from municipal plastic waste from Kenya were deciphered using ITS metabarcoding as well as a comprehensive meta-analysis, and visualised via scanning electron as well as confocal laser scanning microscopy. Metagenomic and microscopic findings provided complementary evidence that the terrestrial plastisphere is a suitable ecological niche for a variety of fungal organisms, including important animal and plant pathogens, which formed the plastisphere core mycobiome. We show that MPs serve as selective artificial microhabitats that not only attract distinct fungal communities, but also accumulate certain opportunistic human pathogens, such as cryptococcal and Phoma-like species. Therefore, MP must be regarded a persistent reservoir and potential vector for fungal pathogens in soil environments. Given the increasing amount of plastic waste in terrestrial ecosystems worldwide, this interrelation may have severe consequences for the trans-kingdom and multi-organismal epidemiology of fungal infections on a global scale.Gerasimos GkoutselisStephan RohrbachJanno HarjesMartin ObstAndreas BrachmannMarcus A. HornGerhard RamboldNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-13 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Gerasimos Gkoutselis Stephan Rohrbach Janno Harjes Martin Obst Andreas Brachmann Marcus A. Horn Gerhard Rambold Microplastics accumulate fungal pathogens in terrestrial ecosystems
description	Abstract Microplastic (MP) is a pervasive pollutant in nature that is colonised by diverse groups of microbes, including potentially pathogenic species. Fungi have been largely neglected in this context, despite their affinity for plastics and their impact as pathogens. To unravel the role of MP as a carrier of fungal pathogens in terrestrial ecosystems and the immediate human environment, epiplastic mycobiomes from municipal plastic waste from Kenya were deciphered using ITS metabarcoding as well as a comprehensive meta-analysis, and visualised via scanning electron as well as confocal laser scanning microscopy. Metagenomic and microscopic findings provided complementary evidence that the terrestrial plastisphere is a suitable ecological niche for a variety of fungal organisms, including important animal and plant pathogens, which formed the plastisphere core mycobiome. We show that MPs serve as selective artificial microhabitats that not only attract distinct fungal communities, but also accumulate certain opportunistic human pathogens, such as cryptococcal and Phoma-like species. Therefore, MP must be regarded a persistent reservoir and potential vector for fungal pathogens in soil environments. Given the increasing amount of plastic waste in terrestrial ecosystems worldwide, this interrelation may have severe consequences for the trans-kingdom and multi-organismal epidemiology of fungal infections on a global scale.
format	article
author	Gerasimos Gkoutselis Stephan Rohrbach Janno Harjes Martin Obst Andreas Brachmann Marcus A. Horn Gerhard Rambold
author_facet	Gerasimos Gkoutselis Stephan Rohrbach Janno Harjes Martin Obst Andreas Brachmann Marcus A. Horn Gerhard Rambold
author_sort	Gerasimos Gkoutselis
title	Microplastics accumulate fungal pathogens in terrestrial ecosystems
title_short	Microplastics accumulate fungal pathogens in terrestrial ecosystems
title_full	Microplastics accumulate fungal pathogens in terrestrial ecosystems
title_fullStr	Microplastics accumulate fungal pathogens in terrestrial ecosystems
title_full_unstemmed	Microplastics accumulate fungal pathogens in terrestrial ecosystems
title_sort	microplastics accumulate fungal pathogens in terrestrial ecosystems
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/b99127848bc048029916cc028373be07
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Microplastics accumulate fungal pathogens in terrestrial ecosystems

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