Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Olabemiwo, Fatai A.
• Hagan, Ama
• Cham, Melanie
• Cohan, Frederick M.

Titel

Two plant-growth-promoting Bacillus species can utilize nanoplastics

Ist Teil von

• The Science of the total environment, 2024-01, Vol.907, p.167972-167972, Article 167972

Ort / Verlag

Elsevier B.V

Erscheinungsjahr

2024

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Plastics in agricultural soils pose a potential risk to humans because environmental plastics can enter our foods. Here, we present a first step toward developing bacteria that can both flourish in agricultural settings and bioremediate nanoplastics. We exposed two species known to promote plant growth in agricultural settings, Bacillus inaquosorum and B. velezensis, to polystyrene nanoplastic beads at various dosages. When grown in a medium with a low dosage of plastic as the only carbon source, the bacteria could oxidize the plastic, indicating the possibility of utilizing the plastic in their growth. When plastic was added to a rich medium, low and high dosages brought immediate death or inhibition to about a third of B. inaquosorum cells during 1 h. Despite the immediate harm, over the course of 24 h, the bacteria from one strain each of B. inaquosorum and B. velezensis reached higher densities at low plastic doses than with no plastic, although they reached lower densities at high plastic doses (a toxicological phenomenon known as hormesis). Microscopic studies demonstrated that the bacteria are shielded from excessive accumulation of nanoplastic particles. Because these plant-growth-promoting species can utilize polystyrene nanoplastics, strains of these species might be developed to bioremediate environmental plastic in agricultural settings. Plastic fragments on farmlands accumulate on produce, creating a need for bioremediation. We identify bacteria that can flourish on agricultural land and utilize nanoplastics, a first step toward developing agricultural bioremediators. [Display omitted] •Nanoplastics pose a potential danger to microbial communities in the soil, but their impact is underexplored.•One strain from each of two plant-growth promoting Bacillus species showed capacities for utilizing polystyrene nanoplastic.•That is, these strains could avoid being copiously covered by plastic nanoparticles, and they could oxidize nanoplastic.•Moreover, they responded hormetically to plastic in rich medium, benefiting from a low dose but hurting from a high dose.•The hormesis suggests these plant-growth-promoting species may be developed into bioremediators in agricultural settings.