The Occurrence of Microplastics and the Formation of Biofilms by Pathogenic and Opportunistic Bacteria as Threats in Aquaculture

Abstract

Aquaculture is the most rapidly growing branch of animal production. The efficiency and quality of the produced food depends on sustainable management, water quality, feed prices and the incidence of diseases. Micro- (MP < 5 mm) and nanoplastic (NP < 1000 nm) particles are among the current factors causing serious water pollution. This substance comes solely from products manufactured by humans. MP particles migrate from the terrestrial to the aquatic environment and adversely affect, especially, the health of animals and humans by being a favorable habitat and vector for microbial pathogens and opportunists. More than 30 taxa of pathogens of humans, aquacutural animals and plants, along with opportunistic bacteria, have been detected in plastic-covering biofilm to date. The mobility and durability of the substance, combined with the relatively closed conditions in aquacultural habitats and pathogens’ affinity to the material, make plastic particles a microbiological medium threatening the industry of aquaculture. For this reason, in addition to the fact of plastic accumulation in living organisms, urgent measures should be taken to reduce its influx into the environment. The phenomenon and its implications are related to the concept of one health, wherein the environment, animals and humans affect each other’s fitness.

Accumulation of Plastics and Trace Elements in the Mangrove Forests of Bima City Bay, Indonesia

“…It happens through changes in the physico-chemical properties of the soil by causing alterations in the water cycle and soil–plant interactions [ 83 , 84 ]. Contamination with MPs harmfully impacts the microbial communities in the environment, as biofilms covering MP particles and natural substances differ considerably in their composition of microorganisms [ 17 ]. Finally, plastics may interact with cell membranes and organelles, causing direct toxicity and physical injuries [ 79 , 85 ].…”

“…Microplastic is defined as a synthetic, solid particle or polymeric matrix of differentiated chemical composition, regular or irregular in shape, and size ranging from 1 μm to 5 mm. The further fragmentation results in nanoplastics (NPs; 1–100 nm) [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Their principal sources in water reservoirs are domestic wastewater effluents, sewage discharges, the plastic manufacturing industry and decomposition products of larger pieces [ 18 ]; therefore, their abundance is highly dependent on population density and the types of human activities [ 19 ].…”

“…The highly negative influence of the plastisphere results not only from its ubiquity in the water environment and trophic chains, but also from its affinity to adsorb toxins (including TEs and organic compounds) and its provision of favorable conditions for bacterial biofilms harboring pathogenic and opportunistic bacteria [ 17 , 47 , 48 , 49 ]. These properties result from large, uneven and chemically active surfaces of plastic particles, acting as vectors that transfer adsorbed contaminants, among other materials, to the rhizosphere, thus increasing their concentrations [ 30 , 50 ].…”

Onboard Science Instrument Autonomy for the Detection of Microscopy Biosignatures on the Ocean Worlds Life Surveyor

“…Lowcost, submersible DHMs are actively being developed for this purpose (Ramirez et al 2022). For more direct societal impact, applications such as food safety analysis as well as beach and flood water safety are currently performed by manual motility inspection, as are the quantification of antibiotic efficacy and sepsis diagnoses (Leonard et al 2003;Lazcka et al 2007;Saxena et al 2014;Valderrama et al 2015;Martin et al 2016;Park et al 2018;Shahraki et al 2019;Tomenchok et al 2020;Cholewińska et al 2022). Like our field trial use-case, the driving need in these terrestrial applications is guiding human attention to the most relevant data through summarization and prioritization.…”

Impact of plastic film mulching on microplastic in farmland soils in Guangdong province, China

“…Large plastics can break down into smaller ones due to UV radiation, industrial production, and other factors [ 3 ]. The formed small plastics with a size of less than 5 mm are called microplastics [ 4 ], which have attracted extensive attention as they are widespread in the ecosystem [ 5 ]. Most studies have focused on microplastics in the marine ecosystem, while relatively fewer have studied microplastics in the terrestrial ecosystem.…”