Reformed microplastic biofilms by ambient BPA showed limited acceleration ability in subsequent BPA degradation in natural lake water

Xiang Gao; Renxin Zhao; Jinhui Jiang

doi:10.1093/jambio/lxaf152

Reformed microplastic biofilms by ambient BPA showed limited acceleration ability in subsequent BPA degradation in natural lake water

J Appl Microbiol. 2025 Jun 23:lxaf152. doi: 10.1093/jambio/lxaf152. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Xiang Gao¹, Renxin Zhao², Jinhui Jiang¹

Affiliations

¹ Hubei International Scientific and Technological Cooperation Base of Ecology and Environment, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079 Hubei Province, P.R. China.
² School of Ecology and Environment, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021 Inner Mongolia, P.R. China.

PMID: 40581600
DOI: 10.1093/jambio/lxaf152

Abstract

Aims: Bisphenol A (BPA) and microplastics are prevalent in aquatic environments. Microplastic biofilms play a crucial role in the environmental degradation of BPA, but related research is lacking. We designed experiments to investigate the effect of BPA on microplastic biofilms and the effect of pre-acclimating biofilms on BPA degradation.

Methods and results: Even at low concentrations (0.1 mg L-1), BPA significantly reduced microplastic biofilms biomass. High-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing revealed that BPA altered biofilm diversity. The primary phyla in the microplastic biofilms included Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria. On the 7th day of biofilm formation, the dominant bacterial genus shifted from Ohtaekwangia to Bdellovibrio (4.32% ± 5.34%) in groups with BPA treatment. On the 14th day, Methylobacillus significantly increased in all treatments compared with the 7th day. Adonis analysis demonstrated that the metabolic composition of the bacterial community also changed significantly. BPA pre-acclimation of microplastic biofilms led to a significant increase in the amount of BPA-degrading bacteria with no significant effect on BPA degradation efficiency. After 7 days, the BPA removal rate in high-concentration microplastic treatments (1600 mg L-1) reached > 90%.

Conclusions: BPA significantly shaped microplastic biofilms. While biofilms accelerated its degradation in short-term, complex interactions among microorganisms and between microorganisms and their environment constrained sustained enhancement over time. Our findings provide a foundation for assessing environmental risks of coexistence bisphenols and microplastics.

Keywords: biodegradation; biofilms; bisphenol a; co-pollution; spherical polystyrene microplastics.

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