Back to the Future: Decomposability of a Biobased and Biodegradable Plastic in Field Soil Environments and Its Microbiome under Ambient and Future Climates.

Decomposition by microorganisms of plastics in soils is almost unexplored despite the fact that the majority of plastics released into the environment end up in soils. Here, we investigate the decomposition process and microbiome of one of the most promising biobased and biodegradable plastics, poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate) (PBSA), under field soil conditions under both ambient and future predicted climates (for the time between 2070 and 2100). We show that the gravimetric and molar mass of PBSA is already largely reduced (28-33%) after 328 days under both climates. We provide novel information on the PBSA microbiome encompassing the three domains of life: Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya (fungi). We show that PBSA begins to decompose after the increase in relative abundances of aquatic fungi (Tetracladium spp.) and nitrogen-fixing bacteria. The PBSA microbiome is distinct from that of surrounding soils, suggesting that PBSA serves as a new ecological habitat. We conclude that the microbial decomposition process of PBSA in soil is more complex than previously thought by involving interkingdom relationships, especially between bacteria and fungi.

Future climate change enhances the complexity of plastisphere microbial co-occurrence networks, but does not significantly affect the community assembly.

Biobased and biodegradable plastics have been intensively used in agriculture as mulching films. They provide a distinctive habitat for soil microbes, yet much less is known about the community assembly and interactions of plastisphere microbiota in soils under future climate change. For the first time, we explored the relative importance of ecological processes and the co-occurrence networks of plastic-associated microbes under ambient and future climates. The drift primarily dominated the community assembly of bacteria and fungi after 180D and 328D incubation in both climate regimes. The neutral community model prediction indicated that the migration rate of the plastisphere community in the later decay phase was lower than that in the early decay phase, contributing to the generation of the specific niches. Furthermore, future climate promoted the complexity and modularity of plastic-associated microbial networks: more competition and cooperation were observed in bacteria (or inter-kingdom) and fungi under future climate conditions, respectively. Overall, our findings strengthened the understanding of ecological processes and interplay of plastisphere microbiota during plastic biodegradation in soils under ambient and future climate regimes.

Nitrogen fixing bacteria facilitate microbial biodegradation of a bio-based and biodegradable plastic in soils under ambient and future climatic conditions.

We discovered a biological mechanism supporting microbial degradation of bio-based poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate) (PBSA) plastic in soils under ambient and future climates. Here, we show that nitrogen-fixing bacteria facilitate the microbial degradation of PBSA by enhancing fungal abundance, accelerating plastic-degrading enzyme activities, and shaping/interacting with plastic-degrading fungal communities.