Insights into the terrestrial plastisphere: Diversity and community structure of bacterial communities from an abandoned plastic landfill.. Characterization of plastic-associated bacterial communities in soil

In this project, the site of sampling was an old abandoned dumpsite and the surrounding area of a plastic recycling plant. Sampling spots were chosen for their proximity to places of plastic processing or handling. The microbial DNA of soil and plastic samples was sequenced, using 16S rRNA paired-end amplicon sequencing on the MiSeq platform from Illumina. We analyzed and compared the microbial diversity and their community structure in plastic pervaded soils with that of the surrounding natural soils in order to investigate if plastic forms a distinct microbial habitat.