Ibrahim's blog

This is scary man! (week 7)

Figure 1: Alcohol treated microplastic #5
co-incubated with P. fluorescens. Notice
the rod-shaped Pseudomonas fluorescens.

Figure 2: Alcohol treated microplastic
#5.

            This week we had an opportunity to check microplastics co-incubated with Pseudomonas species on a microscopic level. My preference for Pseudomonas species is Pseudomonas fluorescens, so I observed P. fluorescens with microplastics. For microscopic analysis, we used the one and only Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Previously we used the SEM machine to create a baseline image for our treated plastics. Since my study involves colonization and biodegradation of microplastics, the baseline images will aid in the comparison between the treated microplastics and the co-incubated (microplastic + P. fluorescens) plastics types. The scary part for me was that under the SEM the plastics co-incubated with P. fluorescens didn’t have a smooth surface (figure 1) when compared to the alcohol-treated microplastics (figure 2). Now, this doesn’t mean that Pseudomonas species biodegrades microplastics (although that’s my hypothesis). To show biodegradation, we need a control time. The co-incubated microplastics viewed this week were from last semester, so there’s no specific time. To show biodegradation between Pseudomonas species and microplastics, the team has set out four control timelines (7 days, 14 days, 21 days, and 28 days). The coming weeks will be crucial for our research, and I hope we get our hypothesized results.