Chemical Stoichiometry Mechanism of Microplastic Impact on Microbial Communities in Water Bodies

Microplastic pollution in aquatic environments has posed a serious threat to material cycling and microbial functions within global aquatic ecosystems. However, the chemometric mechanisms by which microplastics disrupt microbial communities through “plastic-mediated” interactions remain poorly understood. This mechanism serves as the critical theoretical foundation for accurately assessing the ecological risks of microplastics and regulating elemental cycling in water bodies. This paper systematically reviews the multiscale mechanisms of microplastic-microorganism interactions from a chemometrics perspective. At the molecular level, microplastics alter local carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and sulfur (S) stoichiometric balances through the combined effects of surface properties and carbon release, driving microbial metabolic reprogramming. At the community level, elemental stoichiometric ratios drive niche differentiation, while inter-plastic redox gradients support synergistic interactions among sulfur-metabolizing bacteria, forming sulfur cycling networks coupled with carbon and nitrogen cycles. Additionally, this review summarizes advances in stoichiometric modeling (quantifying environmental factor contributions through redundancy analysis, enhancing prediction accuracy via machine learning) and challenges (insufficient adaptability to dynamic water bodies, weak predictive capability for mixed pollution). It reflects on limitations such as laboratory static cultivation and neglect of micro-regional heterogeneity, while outlining future directions including plastic-interacting virome regulation, climate warming interactions, and methodological innovations. This paper aims to clarify the central role of stoichiometric mechanisms, providing theoretical support for constructing cross-scale microplastic risk assessment models and optimizing aquatic environmental remediation strategies.