Table 1.
List of recent studies using molecular techniques to evaluate the biodiversity of the plastisphere in different geographic regions, for plastic samples taken at sea or incubated in seawater conditions for the purpose of the studies.
| Studied area | Sample type | Method | Gene target | Target | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North Pacific subtropical Gyre | Sampling at sea surface | Metagenomic sequencing | Bacteria and Eukaryote | Bryant et al., 2016 | |
| Baltic Sea | Incubation in seawater | V4 18S rRNA sequencing | 565-981 | Microbial Eukaryote, Fungi | Kettner et al., 2017 |
| Estuary, Baltic Sea | Incubation in seawater | V4 16S rRNA sequencing | 515-806 | Bacteria and Archaea | Oberbeckmann et al., 2018 |
| North Sea | Incubation in seawater | V4 16S rRNA sequencing | 515-806 | Bacteria and Archaea | Oberbeckmann et al., 2016 |
| V9 18S rRNA sequencing | 1391-1795 | Microbial Eukaryote, Fungi | |||
| North Sea | Sampling at sea surface- Incubation in seawater | DGGE 16S rRNA and sequencing | 341-534 | Bacteria and Archaea | Oberbeckmann et al., 2014 |
| North Sea | Incubation in seawater and sediment | V3-V4 16S rRNA sequencing | 341-785 | Bacteria and Archaea | De Tender et al., 2017 |
| rDNA-ITS2 sequencing | Fungi | ||||
| North Atlantic subtropical gyre | Sampling at sea surface | V4 16S rRNA sequencing | 515-806 | Bacteria and Archaea | Debroas et al., 2017 |
| V7 18S rRNA sequencing | 960-1438 | Eukaryote | |||
| North Atlantic | Sampling at sea surface | V4-V6 16S rRNA sequencing | 518-1046 | Bacteria | Zettler et al., 2013 |
| V9 16S rRNA sequencing | 1380-1510 | Microbial Eukaryote | |||
| Mediterranean Sea | Sampling at sea surface | V3-V5 16S rRNA sequencing | 515-926 | Bacteria and Archaea | Dussud et al., 2018a |
| Mediterranean Sea | Incubation in seawater | V3-V5 16S rRNA sequencing | 515-926 | Bacteria and Archaea | Dussud et al., 2018b |
| Mediterranean Sea | Incubation in seawater | V3-V5 16S rRNA sequencing | 515-926 | Bacteria and Archaea | Briand et al., 2012 |
| Arabian Sea | Incubation in seawater | V4 16S rRNA sequencing | ND | Bacteria | Muthukrishnan et al., 2018 |
| Estuary, North Sea | Incubation in marine sediment | 16S rRNA cloning and sequencing | 27-1492 | Bacteria | Harrison et al., 2014 |
| Estuary, East China Sea | Sampling at sediment surface | V3-V4 16S rRNA sequencing | 319-806 | Bacteria | Jiang et al., 2018 |
The PCR-amplified regions and the corresponding targeted organisms are indicated. ND, Non-described in the publication.