Documenting the plastic-microbe interface: a novel application of helium ion microscopy (HIM) for plastisphere research
EMSL Project ID
60680
Abstract
Plastic pollution presents an ever-growing threat to our health and planet. Researchers are rapidly working to understand how microbial metabolism can be leveraged to degrade plastics in situ. Current investigations into the microbial ecology of plastisphere communities employ a wide range of analytical tools to tease out information such as the identity of colonizers, their relative abundance as plastics age in the environment, rates of biofilm formation, microbial niche identification, and hydrocarbon degradation activity. Within these investigations, microscopic visualization is commonly used, for example in the form of images of microplastics contamination of drinking water captured using digital cameras or high-resolution images of plastic-attached biofilms captured using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Visual documentation of sample surfaces and the interfaces of substrate-microbe interactions is one of the most concise and striking ways an author can study and communicate the plastic degradation process. Visualization can clarify the mechanisms used by microbes to colonize and degrade different plastics. Currently, SEM imaging is the ‘gold standard’ for the documentation of surface features of soft materials like weathered plastics and substrate-attached biofilms, but the acquisition of these images comes with drawbacks, such as obscured fine surface details caused by the use of metal coatings, and varying degrees of sample damage caused by the low depth of EM penetration, which imposes compromises by requiring low accelerating voltages. Here, we seek to expand the interdisciplinary visual analytical toolkit by investigating the use of helium ion microscopy (HIM) as an alternative to SEM for documenting the plastic-microbe interface and biofilm development on three of the most abundant plastic polymer types: high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and polypropylene (PP). This research will result in insights into the development of microbial populations on polyolefins and details about microbial attachment phenotypes.
Project Details
Project type
Limited Scope
Start Date
2023-03-01
End Date
2023-06-01
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Team Members