Microbial communities from PP samples (weathered to different degrees) incubated in situ marine coastal conditions Metagenome

The aim of the experiment was to test if surface oxidation of the plastic polymer (polypropylene) would result in different microbial communities in comparison to untreated polypropylene. Oxidation of plastic polymers introduces chain scissions, adds functional groups, such as carbonyl and ultimately reduces molecular weight. Previous laboratory experiments have shown that such degradation processes may allow biodegradation. To test the hypothesis that microbial communities on weathered plastic harbour higher relative abundances of known obligate hydrocarbon degrading bacteria, samples were incubated in situ in coastal water in the mediterranean (Mallorca) for nine days. Results showed no treatment effect and this outcome may be related to several problems: (I) surface oxidation, as measured by carbonyl index via FTIR spectroscopy did not differ much between treatments and control, and (II) sequencing yielded relatively low read counts.