Blog Post Week 2

Research Proposal

The current research project for this semester is whether or not Pseudomonas Aeruginosa bacteria can be use to break down microplastics. Pseudomonas Aeruginosa is common in water and soil regardless of the urban or agricultural settings (Fujitani et al., 2010). Since the bacteria is aerobic it dwells inside cooling towers, showers, irrigation systems, and medical devices. This is possible because the bacteria can produce a thick biofilm that helps it stay on damp surfaces (LaBauve and Wargo, 2012). Since the bacteria thrives in moist areas, humans often come in contact with the bacteria. In recent years, there has been signs that P. Aeruginosa attaches its colonies into small microplastics, plastic particles smaller than 5 mm, that are found in the environment. Pseudomonas bacteria have high metabolic and stress resistance that helps it degrades plastics (Wierckx et al., 2015). Humans have increased plastic consumption in the last hundred years and that has cause more plastic waste to be found in local dump areas and local bodies of water. Large quantities of microplastics found in the ocean from the poly-synthetic fibers used in athletic clothing (Galloway, 2015).  Microplastics release harmful chemicals that leak out into the environment and disrupting wildlife (Alexander-White, 2016). If the bacteria can live off of tiny fragments of plastics found in moist areas near cities, then the bacteria will continuously come in contact with the human and animal population.

Learning more about this topic will enable scientists to evaluate the cost and benefits of having P. Aeruginosa in the urban ecosystem. The bacteria poses threats because it is an opportunistic pathogenic bacteria that can cause respiratory infections individuals with weakened immune systems such as individuals with cystic fibrosis (LaBauve and Wargo, 2012). If the bacteria can eat through plastics, then medical devices such as catheters and respiratory tubing will not be safe on humans with weak immune systems. This is one of the main concerns when it comes to use Pseudomonas bacteria to degrade plastics because many series of Pseudomonas are pathogenic (Wierckx et al., 2015). The bacteria can also play an important role in environmental measures.The world currently uses an estimate of 300 million tonnes of plastic annually (Galloway, 2015). If the bacteria is proven to successfully eat plastic products, researchers can use the bacteria to decrease the amount of plastic that resides in landfills and other waste sites. Microplastics have been known to cause gut blockage, injuries, oxygen depletion, poor feeding habits, and loss of energy to animals that have digested it (Alexander-White, 2016).This prevent toxic, choking materials from encountering animals and humans. Research must be conducted in this area if humans want a prevention method to medical issues concerning P. Aeruginosa or a solution to the growing plastic issues.

    This will be an experiment that requires the seven types of plastic use in recycling. The plastics will be broken down into tiny fragments which will be smaller than 5 mm. The P. Aeruginosa will place on each plastic sample and will be judge on key factors. Was the bacteria found in the plastic sample? Can the bacteria accumulate on the plastic samples over an extend period of time? Can the bacteria degrade the plastic materials it resides on? To ensure that the bacteria present are P. Aeruginosa, the bacteria samples will be cultivated and extracted with a DNA technique before performing a Nanodrop on the bacteria sample. A gel electrophoresis set up will be use to determine the amount of bacteria presented.

Name	I/D/C	Symbol	Units	Description
Types of plastic	I	-	-	Plastics ranging from 1 to 7 on a recycle codes will be collected to grow bacteria.
Bacteria	I	-	-	Pseudomonas Aeruginosa is the bacteria of choice.
Extraction Methods	I	V	mL	Each extraction process requires different amount of volume, temperature, and etc in order to work.
Temperature	C	t	C	All process requires the same amount of incubating and freezing temperature.
Mass	D	m	ug	The amount of bacterial DNA discovered is dependent on how the process was done.

The current research topic is will Pseudomonas Aeruginosa grow on common microplastics found in urban waste? If so, can it degrade the plastics. The hypothesis is that bacteria will grow on eat through the lesser dense plastics such as type 4 plastics found in plastic bags. The results that may prove or this disprove this hypothesis.

Reference 

2016, Alexander-White, C. (2016, November 15). The massive problem of microplastics. Retrieved February 23, 2017, from https://eic.rsc.org/feature/the-massive-problem-of-microplastics/2000127.article

Galloway TS, 2015. Micro- and Nano-plastics and Human Health. In: Bergmann M, Gutow L and Klages M (eds). Marine anthropogenic litter. Springer International Publishing, Cham. pp. 343–366. http://biosciences.exeter.ac.uk/documents/Micro-and_Nano-plastics_and_Human_Health_Galloway.pdf

LaBauve, A. E., & Wargo, M. J. (2012). Growth and Laboratory Maintenance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Current Protocols in Microbiology, 0 6, Unit–6E.1. http://doi.org/10.1002/9780471729259.mc06e01s25

Wierckx, N., Prieto, M. A., Pomposiello, P., de Lorenzo, V., O’Connor, K., & Blank, L. M. (2015). Plastic waste as a novel substrate for industrial biotechnology. Microbial Biotechnology, 8(6), 900–903. http://doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.12312

Fujitani, S., M.D. (2010, January 1). Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Retrieved February 23, 2017, from http://www.antimicrobe.org/new/b112.asp

Figure 1.  A rough draft of a similar project I am doing for WAESO