UV stabilizers can foster early development of biofilms on freshwater microplastics

Abhrajyoti Tarafdar; Ja yun Lim; Jung Hwan Kwon

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120444

UV stabilizers can foster early development of biofilms on freshwater microplastics

Abhrajyoti Tarafdar, Ja yun Lim, Jung Hwan Kwon

Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

15 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Interactions between microbes and microplastics are important as of emerging plastic loads in the global environment. Although diverse plastic additives are used in large amounts, there are very few studies on a quantitative comparison of plastisphere on plastics with different plastic additives. We studied the effects of two widely used UV stabilizers (benzotriazole-type UV-327 and benzophenone-type UV-531 were selected based on their persistence and toxicity) in low-density polyethylene (LDPE) on freshwater microbes. This is the first study on the sole effects of UV stabilizers used as plastic additives on freshwater in situ plastisphere biofilm development. Confocal laser scanning microscopy, assisted with proper differentiating fluorochromes and threshold-based 3D segmentation of data, was used to visualize and quantify biofilm. On the first week of biofilm growth, there was very little biovolume and a negligible amount of phototrophs on pristine LDPE contrasting other substrates. Biovolumes were significantly higher on LDPE with UV stabilizers (up to 159% higher than pristine LDPE), although the biomass was mostly dead due to toxicity (>100% higher dead biovolume than live biovolume in LDPE with UV stabilizers). After the fourth week, marginally higher biovolumes along with a revival of the biomass on LDPE with UV stabilizers were observed. The ability to induce microorganismic intracellular reactive oxygen species by UV stabilizers was detected, which may stimulate biofilm growth during the primary phase of biofilm development. Atomic force microscopy analysis denoted that LDPE with UV stabilizers exhibit considerably stronger adhesion force than pristine LDPE. These observations suggest that UV stabilizers can foster the early attachment of microbes to microplastics while killing the surface contacting layer. An alive upper layer of microbes can get developed on the dead biofilm without much disruption due to the toxicity of UV stabilizers. This occurrence can eventually boost the early development of biofilms on plastics.

Original language	English
Article number	120444
Journal	Environmental Pollution
Volume	315
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120444
Publication status	Published - 2022 Dec 15

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Abhrajyoti Tarafdar reports financial support was provided by National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF).This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grants funded by the Korean government (MEST) [grant numbers 2020R1A2C2009244 & 2021R1I1A1A01059838]. The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Anh T. N. Do, Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, for helping in the manufacturing process of plastic fibers. The authors also thank Editage for providing language editing guidance.

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grants funded by the Korean government ( MEST ) [grant numbers 2020R1A2C2009244 & 2021R1I1A1A01059838 ]. The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Anh T. N. Do, Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, for helping in the manufacturing process of plastic fibers. The authors also thank Editage for providing language editing guidance.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd

Keywords

Biofilm
LDPE
Oxidative stress
Plastisphere
Toxicity
UV-327
UV-531

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Toxicology
Pollution
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

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10.1016/j.envpol.2022.120444

Cite this

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title = "UV stabilizers can foster early development of biofilms on freshwater microplastics",

abstract = "Interactions between microbes and microplastics are important as of emerging plastic loads in the global environment. Although diverse plastic additives are used in large amounts, there are very few studies on a quantitative comparison of plastisphere on plastics with different plastic additives. We studied the effects of two widely used UV stabilizers (benzotriazole-type UV-327 and benzophenone-type UV-531 were selected based on their persistence and toxicity) in low-density polyethylene (LDPE) on freshwater microbes. This is the first study on the sole effects of UV stabilizers used as plastic additives on freshwater in situ plastisphere biofilm development. Confocal laser scanning microscopy, assisted with proper differentiating fluorochromes and threshold-based 3D segmentation of data, was used to visualize and quantify biofilm. On the first week of biofilm growth, there was very little biovolume and a negligible amount of phototrophs on pristine LDPE contrasting other substrates. Biovolumes were significantly higher on LDPE with UV stabilizers (up to 159% higher than pristine LDPE), although the biomass was mostly dead due to toxicity (>100% higher dead biovolume than live biovolume in LDPE with UV stabilizers). After the fourth week, marginally higher biovolumes along with a revival of the biomass on LDPE with UV stabilizers were observed. The ability to induce microorganismic intracellular reactive oxygen species by UV stabilizers was detected, which may stimulate biofilm growth during the primary phase of biofilm development. Atomic force microscopy analysis denoted that LDPE with UV stabilizers exhibit considerably stronger adhesion force than pristine LDPE. These observations suggest that UV stabilizers can foster the early attachment of microbes to microplastics while killing the surface contacting layer. An alive upper layer of microbes can get developed on the dead biofilm without much disruption due to the toxicity of UV stabilizers. This occurrence can eventually boost the early development of biofilms on plastics.",

keywords = "Biofilm, LDPE, Oxidative stress, Plastisphere, Toxicity, UV-327, UV-531",

author = "Abhrajyoti Tarafdar and Lim, {Ja yun} and Kwon, {Jung Hwan}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Abhrajyoti Tarafdar reports financial support was provided by National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF).This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grants funded by the Korean government (MEST) [grant numbers 2020R1A2C2009244 & 2021R1I1A1A01059838]. The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Anh T. N. Do, Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, for helping in the manufacturing process of plastic fibers. The authors also thank Editage for providing language editing guidance. Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grants funded by the Korean government ( MEST ) [grant numbers 2020R1A2C2009244 & 2021R1I1A1A01059838 ]. The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Anh T. N. Do, Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, for helping in the manufacturing process of plastic fibers. The authors also thank Editage for providing language editing guidance. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 Elsevier Ltd",

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AU - Tarafdar, Abhrajyoti

AU - Lim, Ja yun

AU - Kwon, Jung Hwan

N1 - Funding Information: The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Abhrajyoti Tarafdar reports financial support was provided by National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF).This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grants funded by the Korean government (MEST) [grant numbers 2020R1A2C2009244 & 2021R1I1A1A01059838]. The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Anh T. N. Do, Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, for helping in the manufacturing process of plastic fibers. The authors also thank Editage for providing language editing guidance. Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grants funded by the Korean government ( MEST ) [grant numbers 2020R1A2C2009244 & 2021R1I1A1A01059838 ]. The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Anh T. N. Do, Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering, Korea University, for helping in the manufacturing process of plastic fibers. The authors also thank Editage for providing language editing guidance. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Elsevier Ltd

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N2 - Interactions between microbes and microplastics are important as of emerging plastic loads in the global environment. Although diverse plastic additives are used in large amounts, there are very few studies on a quantitative comparison of plastisphere on plastics with different plastic additives. We studied the effects of two widely used UV stabilizers (benzotriazole-type UV-327 and benzophenone-type UV-531 were selected based on their persistence and toxicity) in low-density polyethylene (LDPE) on freshwater microbes. This is the first study on the sole effects of UV stabilizers used as plastic additives on freshwater in situ plastisphere biofilm development. Confocal laser scanning microscopy, assisted with proper differentiating fluorochromes and threshold-based 3D segmentation of data, was used to visualize and quantify biofilm. On the first week of biofilm growth, there was very little biovolume and a negligible amount of phototrophs on pristine LDPE contrasting other substrates. Biovolumes were significantly higher on LDPE with UV stabilizers (up to 159% higher than pristine LDPE), although the biomass was mostly dead due to toxicity (>100% higher dead biovolume than live biovolume in LDPE with UV stabilizers). After the fourth week, marginally higher biovolumes along with a revival of the biomass on LDPE with UV stabilizers were observed. The ability to induce microorganismic intracellular reactive oxygen species by UV stabilizers was detected, which may stimulate biofilm growth during the primary phase of biofilm development. Atomic force microscopy analysis denoted that LDPE with UV stabilizers exhibit considerably stronger adhesion force than pristine LDPE. These observations suggest that UV stabilizers can foster the early attachment of microbes to microplastics while killing the surface contacting layer. An alive upper layer of microbes can get developed on the dead biofilm without much disruption due to the toxicity of UV stabilizers. This occurrence can eventually boost the early development of biofilms on plastics.

AB - Interactions between microbes and microplastics are important as of emerging plastic loads in the global environment. Although diverse plastic additives are used in large amounts, there are very few studies on a quantitative comparison of plastisphere on plastics with different plastic additives. We studied the effects of two widely used UV stabilizers (benzotriazole-type UV-327 and benzophenone-type UV-531 were selected based on their persistence and toxicity) in low-density polyethylene (LDPE) on freshwater microbes. This is the first study on the sole effects of UV stabilizers used as plastic additives on freshwater in situ plastisphere biofilm development. Confocal laser scanning microscopy, assisted with proper differentiating fluorochromes and threshold-based 3D segmentation of data, was used to visualize and quantify biofilm. On the first week of biofilm growth, there was very little biovolume and a negligible amount of phototrophs on pristine LDPE contrasting other substrates. Biovolumes were significantly higher on LDPE with UV stabilizers (up to 159% higher than pristine LDPE), although the biomass was mostly dead due to toxicity (>100% higher dead biovolume than live biovolume in LDPE with UV stabilizers). After the fourth week, marginally higher biovolumes along with a revival of the biomass on LDPE with UV stabilizers were observed. The ability to induce microorganismic intracellular reactive oxygen species by UV stabilizers was detected, which may stimulate biofilm growth during the primary phase of biofilm development. Atomic force microscopy analysis denoted that LDPE with UV stabilizers exhibit considerably stronger adhesion force than pristine LDPE. These observations suggest that UV stabilizers can foster the early attachment of microbes to microplastics while killing the surface contacting layer. An alive upper layer of microbes can get developed on the dead biofilm without much disruption due to the toxicity of UV stabilizers. This occurrence can eventually boost the early development of biofilms on plastics.

KW - Biofilm

KW - LDPE

KW - Oxidative stress

KW - Plastisphere

KW - Toxicity

KW - UV-327

KW - UV-531

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ER -

UV stabilizers can foster early development of biofilms on freshwater microplastics

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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