Metagenomic analysis of plastic debris from the North Atlantic and North Pacific garbage patches
Sections of the different plastic samples were cut with a sterile scalpel and placed into 2 ml MP Biomedicals Lysing Matrix E tubes (MP Biomedicals, Eschwege, Germany). Then physically disrupted using a bead-beating technique, with a single cycle of 30s at a speed of 5.500 rpm in a FastPrep homogenizer (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany). The DNA extraction from the lysis product was then performed using the Qiagen AllPrep DNA/RNA Minikit according to the manufacturer's instructions. The metagenomic sequencing was performed NovaSeq 6000 Illumina sequencing platform at the Competence Centre for Genomic Analysis (CCGA) Kiel, Germany.