Seminar

Plastic is one of the largest pollutants in the marine environment, yet the interaction with microorganisms in the surrounding environment remains unclear. Therefore, investigating the members of the plastisphere - the microbial community forms specifically on plastic items - is key to understand how they contribute to the distribution and fragmentation of plastics in the ocean. My key objective is to identify the members of plastisphere in Hong Kong, and their potential functions. Plastic biofilm samples have been collected by deploying plastic plates of HDPE, LDPE, PP and PS. The DNA were subsequently extracted from the samples and sequenced. Differences between plastisphere and community in water were observed, and sampling location also shows influence to plastisphere. Currently, metabolic functions of plastisphere remains a large knowledge gap, therefore I aim to conduct metagenomic analysis to unveil potential plastic degradation activities and other functions undertaken by plastisphere in Hong Kong.

Additional information: CHAN Hing Sang Hamsun, hamsun@connect.hku.hk