Nanoplastic corona: An unknown, emerging cradle of bacterial evolution

Nanoplastics (≤ 100 nm) are microplastic breakdown products with unique surface properties enabling biomolecule aggregate or 'NanoPlastic-Corona’ (NPC) formation. These aggregates of nanoplastic, proteins and extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) provide an ideal condition for bacteria to grow, flourish and evolve. Given the extent of global plastic pollution, these nano-habitats pose fundamental and novel questions for bacterial evolution: 1) Are NPCs a novel hot spot for evolutionary processes such as Horizontal gene transfer (HGT)? 2) What factors affect HGT of important genes such as Antibiotic Resistant Genes (ARGs) in NPC of ecologically significant habitats? Combined approach of metagenomics and HGT microcosms of NPCs will provide insights on spatial phenomena of HGT and bacterial evolution. Despite their significance, we have very limited knowledge on biology of these tiny pariah like waste habitats, let alone HGT. This study will widen the frontier of evolutionary research by elucidating evolutionary processes on small substrate pockets (NPC) emerging as widely distributed platforms in nature.