AUTHOR=Bartkova Simona , Kahru Anne , Heinlaan Margit , Scheler Ott TITLE=Techniques Used for Analyzing Microplastics, Antimicrobial Resistance and Microbial Community Composition: A Mini-Review JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology VOLUME=12 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.603967 DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2021.603967 ISSN=1664-302X ABSTRACT=

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global health threat. Antibiotics, heavy metals, and microplastics are environmental pollutants that together potentially have a positive synergetic effect on the development, persistence, transport, and ecology of antibiotic resistant bacteria in the environment. To evaluate this, a wide array of experimental methods would be needed to quantify the occurrence of antibiotics, heavy metals, and microplastics as well as associated microbial communities in the natural environment. In this mini-review, we outline the current technologies used to characterize microplastics based ecosystems termed “plastisphere” and their AMR promoting elements (antibiotics, heavy metals, and microbial inhabitants) and highlight emerging technologies that could be useful for systems-level investigations of AMR in the plastisphere.