Microbial communities colonising plastics during transition from wastewater treatment plant to marine water

The aim of this study was to use a series of ex situ mesocosm to imitate plastic waste transport from the wastewater treatment plant to the marine zone. Changes have been tracked in bacteria community structure on the plastics from the early stages of colonisation to one week. SSU rRNA V4 region amplicon sequencing was used to determine microbial community structures. Colonization was studied on four of the most common types of plastics found in marine zone: polypropylene (PP), high-density and low-density polyethylene (HDPE, LDPE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET).