Deciphering the Mechanisms Shaping the Plastisphere Microbiota in Soil

The increasing pervasive microplastic pollution is creating a new environmental compartment, termed plastisphere. Even though there was conclusive information characterizing the plastisphere, the underlying mechanisms shaping the bacterial communities in the plastisphere in the soil remain unclear. Therefore, we incubated two types of microplastics (PE and PLA) in two different soils and explored the differences between plastisphere and bulk soil communities. Additionally, the co-occurrence network and the assembly processes of plastisphere were subjected to further analysis. Our results highlight the importance of selective recruitment of microplastics and contribute to the understanding of the diversity patterns and assembly processes of plastisphere in soil environments.