Editorial: Microplastics and microorganisms in the environment, volume II
Abstract
The pervasive use of plastics has led to the widespread presence of microplastics across our planet (Thompson et al., 2004;Wang et al., 2019). These tiny particles have been detected in Antarctic sea ice, the guts of marine animals inhabiting the deepest ocean trenches, and in drinking water worldwide. Microorganisms form the foundation of all life on Earth, playing essential roles in sustaining life through their various activities (Liu et al., 2021). Studying the interactions between microplastics and microorganisms is crucial for numerous reasons, encompassing environmental, ecological, human health, and socio-economic dimensions (Wang et al., 2021). For instance, identifying microorganisms capable of degrading microplastics can inform bioremediation strategies, offering potential solutions to mitigate plastic pollution.Although significant progress has been made in the past decade in understanding the relationship between microplastics and microorganisms in diverse environments, our comprehension of these interactions remains limited due to their inherent complexity.The five papers in this virtual special issue (VSI) primarily focus on two topics: microbial degradation of microplastics and interactions between microplastics and viruses. The first topic involves identifying bacteria and microorganisms capable of efficiently degrading microplastics. In the environment, microplastics readily form microbe-rich plastispheres, implying that microbially mediated plastic…
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