Jessica A. Bryant, a Ph.D. student in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at MIT, explores the taxonomic and metabolic diversity of microbial communities associated with marine plastic debris in her primary research article entitled “Diversity and Activity of Communities Inhabiting Plastic Debris in the North Pacific Gyre” (1). Through metagenomic sequencing, Bryant found that microbes associated with plastic debris were taxonomically different from microbial samples taken from the surrounding water column, and also displayed complex and divergent lifestyles and metabolic capacities. The purpose of this research is to gain a better understanding of the impact of accumulating marine plastic debris on microbial communities and thus understand the potential impact on microbial mediated biogeochemical cycling in marine ecosystems. Bryant establishes a relationship with academics and environmental advocates alike, in work that pertains to sustainability and microbial ecology, as well as various other fields of study in the biological sciences.
1. Bryant J, Clemente T, Viviani D, Fong A, Thomas K, Kemp P, Karl D, White A, DeLong E. 2016. Diversity and Activity of Communities Inhabiting Plastic Debris in the North Pacific Gyre. mSystems 1.
