Microplastic pollution aids antibiotic resistance
Engineers at Rice lead study of how polystyrene contributes to crisis


Date:
December 6, 2021
Source:
Rice University
Summary:
Microplastics dispersed in the environment may enhance antibiotic
resistance. A study found the chemical-leaching plastics draw
bacteria and other vectors and make them susceptible to antibiotic
resistant genes.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
The Styrofoam container that holds your takeout cheeseburger may
contribute to the population's growing resistance to antibiotics.


========================================================================== According to scientists at Rice University's George R. Brown School
of Engineering, 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.

A study in the Journal of Hazardous Materials describes how the
ultraviolet aging of microplastics in the environment make them apt
platforms for antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs). 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 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-based Nanotechnology
Enabled Water Treatment Center. "Enhanced dissemination of antibiotic resistance is an overlooked potential impact of microplastics pollution."
The researchers found that microplastics (100 nanometers to five
micrometers 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.

Co-authors of the paper are Rice graduate student Ruonan Sun; former Rice 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.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Rice_University. Original written
by Mike Williams. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Qingbin Yuan, Ruonan Sun, Pingfeng Yu, Yuan Cheng, Wenbin Wu,
Jiming Bao,
Pedro J.J. Alvarez. UV-aging of microplastics increases
proximal ARG donor-recipient adsorption and leaching of
chemicals that synergistically enhance antibiotic resistance
propagation. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2021; 127895 DOI:
10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.127895 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/12/211206080225.htm

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