Microplastics provide tiny, intimate surfaces where microbes cling, congregate and form biofilms. Within these crowded biofilms, bacteria grow closely together, facilitating transfer of genetic material between cells. Gene transfer in biofilms increases opportunities to spread DNA that encodes antibiotic resistance. Evidence indicates microplastics may fuel antimicrobial resistance by serving as superior habitats for pathogens compared with some natural substances, though mechanisms remain unclear. Antimicrobial resistance caused about five million deaths in 2019 and is projected to double by 2050. Understanding microplastics' role in resistance spread remains limited and requires further investigation.
For bacteria, microplastics are the perfect meetup spottiny, intimate surfaces where microbes can cling, huddle close and swap genes. And these crowded bacterial breeding grounds may pose a threat to human health. A growing body of new research shows that microplastics may fuel antimicrobial resistancethe phenomenon in which pathogens adapt to withstand drugs, making it challenging to treat infections. The growing antimicrobial resistance crisis claimed about five million lives in 2019, a number projected to double by 2050.
Several other recent papers suggest microplastics serve as better homes for pathogens than some natural substances do, although the mechanisms are not fully understood. We've just really scratched the surface, says Timothy Walsh, a microbiologist at the University of Oxford, who has previously studied antimicrobial resistance and microplastics. When bacteria encounter a surfacea sliver of wood floating in water or a door handlethey stick to it and to one another, forming a biofilm.
In a biofilm, bacteria live close together, making it easier to transfer genetic material from one cell to another in what's basically bacterial sex, says Emily Stevenson, a public health researcher at the University of Exeter in England and lead author of the August review paper. The more chances microbes get to swap genes in general, the more chances they have to spread DNA that codes for antibiotic resistance.
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