Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Ningbo Observation and Research Station, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, China.
Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Urban Environmental Processes and Pollution Control, CAS Haixi Industrial Technology Innovation Center in Beilun, Ningbo, China.
Nat Commun. 2024 Jul 12;15(1):5866. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-50200-8.
The estuarine plastisphere, a novel ecological habitat in the Anthropocene, has garnered global concerns. Recent geochemical evidence has pointed out its potential role in influencing nitrogen biogeochemistry. However, the biogeochemical significance of the plastisphere and its mechanisms regulating nitrogen cycling remain elusive. Using N- and C-labelling coupled with metagenomics and metatranscriptomics, here we unveil that the plastisphere likely acts as an underappreciated nitrifying niche in estuarine ecosystems, exhibiting a 0.9 ~ 12-fold higher activity of bacteria-mediated nitrification compared to surrounding seawater and other biofilms (stone, wood and glass biofilms). The shift of active nitrifiers from O-sensitive nitrifiers in the seawater to nitrifiers with versatile metabolisms in the plastisphere, combined with the potential interspecific cooperation of nitrifying substrate exchange observed among the plastisphere nitrifiers, collectively results in the unique nitrifying niche. Our findings highlight the plastisphere as an emerging nitrifying niche in estuarine environment, and deepen the mechanistic understanding of its contribution to marine biogeochemistry.
河口塑料层，人类世的一种新型生态生境，引起了全球关注。最近的地球化学证据指出，它在影响氮生物地球化学方面具有潜在作用。然而，塑料层的生物地球化学意义及其调节氮循环的机制仍不清楚。本研究采用 N 和 C 标记结合宏基因组学和宏转录组学，揭示了塑料层可能在河口生态系统中充当一个被低估的硝化小生境，其介导的细菌硝化作用活性比周围海水和其他生物膜（石头、木材和玻璃生物膜）高 0.9 到 12 倍。活性硝化菌从海水中对 O 敏感的硝化菌向塑料层中具有多种代谢途径的硝化菌的转变，再加上观察到塑料层硝化菌之间潜在的硝化底物交换的种间合作，共同导致了独特的硝化小生境。本研究结果强调了河口环境中塑料层作为一个新兴的硝化小生境，并加深了对其在海洋生物地球化学中贡献的机制理解。
