Microplastic Pollution Aids Antibiotic Resistance

The ultraviolet aging of microplastics makes them apt platforms for antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs) in the environment, as revealed by a study published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.

The Styrofoam container that holds your takeout cheeseburger may contribute to the population’s growing resistance to antibiotics.

‘Discarded polystyrene broken down into microplastics provides a cozy home not only for microbes and chemical contaminants but also for the free-floating genetic materials that deliver to bacteria the gift of resistance.’

These genes are armored by bacterial chromosomes, phages, and plasmids, all biological vectors that can spread antibiotic resistance to people, lowering their ability to fight infections.

The study led by Rice University civil and environmental engineer Pedro Alvarez in collaboration with researchers in China and at the University of Houston also showed chemicals leaching from the plastic as it ages increase the susceptibility of vectors to horizontal gene transfer, through which resistance spreads.

“We were surprised to discover that microplastic aging enhances horizontal ARG,” said Alvarez, the George R. Brown professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the Rice University-based Nanotechnology Enabled Water Treatment Center, and he said “Enhanced dissemination of antibiotic resistance is an overlooked potential impact of microplastics pollution.”

Antibiotic Resistance - An Emerging Global Crisis
Antibiotic resistance refers to the adaption of bacteria that allows them to grow even in the presence of antibiotics. The infection by the resistant bacteria are difficult to treat.

The researchers found that microplastics (100 nm to 5 µm in diameter) aged by the ultraviolet part of sunlight have high surface areas that trap microbes. As the plastics degrade, they also leach depolymerization chemicals that breach the microbes’ membranes, giving ARGs an opportunity to invade.

They noted that microplastic surfaces may serve as aggregation sites for susceptible bacteria, accelerating gene transfer by bringing the bacteria into contact with each other and with released chemicals. That synergy could enrich environmental conditions favorable to antibiotic resistance even in the absence of antibiotics, according to the study.

Test your Knowledge on Antibiotic Resistance
Antibiotic resistance is a growing public health concern that has reached gigantic proportions. Antibiotic resistance is a change that occurs in bacteria when they are exposed to antibiotics used to treat infections caused by them. This change makes the antibiotics ineffective and the antibiotic-resistant bacteria become “superbugs”.

Co-authors of the paper are Rice University graduate student Ruonan Sun; former Rice University postdoctoral researcher Pingfeng Yu, now a faculty member at Zhejiang University; associate professor Qingbin Yuan, Yuan Cheng and lecturer Wenbin Wu of Nanjing Tech University, and Jiming Bao, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Houston.

The Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK20201367), National Natural Science Foundation of China (42177348) and National Science Foundation funding of NEWT (1449500) supported the research.

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Source-Eurekalert