Microbial ecology of plastisphere in interconnected aquatic ecosystems

Microplastics (MPs) are a growing concern in aquatic environments and a new emerging niche for microbes. The main goal of this proposed study is to determine the taxonomic and functional properties of the microbiome on MPs and assess MPs associated microbial risk factors, using information from different omics layers in interconnected aquatic ecosystems. Two types of incubation experiments will be conducted in lakes, rivers, and coastal areas of the Gulf of Finland and the Norwegian Sea to study the structure and assembly processes of microbiomes on MPs. Lab experiments will be conducted to assess the impact of MPs and their associated microbiomes on the biodegradation and biotransformation of oil products and chemical warfare agents in seawater and sediments. The microbial communities that form on the MPs will be analyzed using a combination of metabarcoding, shotgun metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and quantitative PCR, as well as machine learning-based data integration methods.