Fungal Diversity and Dynamics during Long-Term Immersion of Conventional and Biodegradable Plastics in the Marine Environment

Abstract

Plastics are associated with a worldwide pollution crisis, with strong negative impacts on both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In marine environments, various organisms are colonizing plastic debris, but few studies have focused on fungal communities despite their non-trivial ecological roles in the marine environment. In this study, different types of plastics (biodegradable and conventional) immersed in marine natural environments and under laboratory controlled settings were collected after long-term colonization. Using a metabarcoding approach targeting two genetic markers, namely, the ITS2 region and the V4 hypervariable region of the 18S rRNA gene, we highlighted that fungal communities associated with plastic polymers were distinct from those found in the surrounding seawater. They also differed significantly between sampling locations and the nature of immersed polymers, indicating that fungal colonization was impacted by the sites and types of plastics, with clear dissimilarities between conventional and biodegradable polymers. Specifically for the conventional PVC polymer (Polyvinyl chloride), we also observed the successive stages of biofilm development and maturation after long-term immersion in seawater. A noticeable change in the fungal communities was observed around 30–40 days in natural settings, suggesting a colonization dynamic likely associated with a transition from biofilm formation to distinct communities likely associated with biofouling. Overall, this study strengthens the idea that the fungal kingdom is an integrated part of the “plastisphere”.

Effect of Location, Disinfection, and Building Materials on the Presence and Richness of Culturable Mycobiota through Oligotrophic Drinking Water Systems

“…These included the genera Cystobasidium, Vishniacozyma, Bjerkandera, and Stereum. Many studies report fungi from plastic materials, but contrary to our results, higher numbers of Ascomycota are usually reported [57].…”

Planktonic Marine Fungi: A Review

“…However, these results diverge from those of Sérvulo et al (2023), who reported stable communities over a 1-year immersion period. In terms of taxonomic diversity, Ascomycota dominate plastic-associated fungal communities, where other fungal phyla are also present (De Tender et al, 2017;Kettner et al, 2017;Lacerda et al, 2020Lacerda et al, , 2022Philippe et al, 2023;Sérvulo et al, 2023;Zeghal et al, 2021), which aligns with the general patterns in pelagic marine fungal diversity (Jones et al, 2019). Moreover, plastic-associated Chytridiomycota exhibit higher abundance during the autumn and winter seasons (Sérvulo et al, 2023) or at higher latitudes (Kettner et al, 2017;Kirstein et al, 2018).…”

“…Only one study detected differences in community composition, of fungal communities on polystyrene and PET, which contrasted with those on polyurethane (S. Yang et al., 2022). A recent study comparing fungal colonization on conventional versus biodegradable plastics underscores the significant impact of immersion duration on fungal colonization (Philippe et al., 2023). This is supported by temporal variability observed in fungal communities (De Tender et al., 2017).…”

Assessing the Plastisphere from Floating Plastics in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea, with Emphasis on Viruses

“…In addition, their association with eukaryotic organisms, such as (micro)algae and invertebrates, which are indeed common plastisphere inhabitants [ 17 , 18 ], would explain their dominance. Fungi are also common members of the marine plastisphere, even though they have not been well-evaluated, despite their non-trivial ecological roles in marine environments [ 45 , 46 , 47 ].…”