Marine Plastic Debris: A New Surface for Microbial Colonization

Plastics become rapidly colonized by microbes when released into marine environments. This microbial community-the Plastisphere-has recently sparked a multitude of scientific inquiries and generated a breadth of knowledge, which we bring together in this review. Besides providing a better understanding of community composition and biofilm development in marine ecosystems, we critically discuss current research on plastic biodegradation and the identification of potentially pathogenic "hitchhikers" in the Plastisphere. The Plastisphere is at the interface between the plastic and its surrounding milieu, and thus drives every interaction that this synthetic material has with its environment, from ecotoxicity and…

• MD
  Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades

  Award: RYC-2017-22452
• SR
  Sight Research UK

  Awards: NE/K009044/1, NE/S005501/1
• AO
  Association of Commonwealth Universities
• UO
  University of Warwick

  Award: BB/M01116X/1
• MD
  Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad

  Award: PID2019-109509RB-I00
• CN
  Consejo Nacional de Innovación, Ciencia y Tecnología

  Award: 72160583
• NE
  Natural Environment Research Council

  Awards: NE/K009044/1, NE/S005501/1, NE/S005501/1, NE/K009044/1
• ER
  European Regional Development Fund

  Award: PID2019-109509RB-I00