Leung, M. H. Y. and Tong, X. and Boifot, K. O. and Bezdan, D. and Butler, D. J. and Danko, D. C. and Gohli, J. and Green, D. C. and Hernandez, M. T. and Kelly, F. J. and Levy, S. and Mason-Buck, G. and Nieto-Caballero, M. and Syndercombe-Court, D. and Udekwu, Klas and Young, B. G. and Mason, C. E. and Dybwad, M. and Lee, P. K. H.
(2021).
Characterization of the public transit air microbiome and resistome reveals geographical specificity.
Microbiome. 9
, 112
[Research article]
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Abstract
BackgroundThe public transit is a built environment with high occupant density across the globe, and identifying factors shaping public transit air microbiomes will help design strategies to minimize the transmission of pathogens. However, the majority of microbiome works dedicated to the public transit air are limited to amplicon sequencing, and our knowledge regarding the functional potentials and the repertoire of resistance genes (i.e. resistome) is limited. Furthermore, current air microbiome investigations on public transit systems are focused on single cities, and a multi-city assessment of the public transit air microbiome will allow a greater understanding of whether and how broad environmental, building, and anthropogenic factors shape the public transit air microbiome in an international scale. Therefore, in this study, the public transit air microbiomes and resistomes of six cities across three continents (Denver, Hong Kong, London, New York City, Oslo, Stockholm) were characterized.ResultsCity was the sole factor associated with public transit air microbiome differences, with diverse taxa identified as drivers for geography-associated functional potentials, concomitant with geographical differences in species- and strain-level inferred growth profiles. Related bacterial strains differed among cities in genes encoding resistance, transposase, and other functions. Sourcetracking estimated that human skin, soil, and wastewater were major presumptive resistome sources of public transit air, and adjacent public transit surfaces may also be considered presumptive sources. Large proportions of detected resistance genes were co-located with mobile genetic elements including plasmids. Biosynthetic gene clusters and city-unique coding sequences were found in the metagenome-assembled genomes.ConclusionsOverall, geographical specificity transcends multiple aspects of the public transit air microbiome, and future efforts on a global scale are warranted to increase our understanding of factors shaping the microbiome of this unique built environment.
Authors/Creators: | Leung, M. H. Y. and Tong, X. and Boifot, K. O. and Bezdan, D. and Butler, D. J. and Danko, D. C. and Gohli, J. and Green, D. C. and Hernandez, M. T. and Kelly, F. J. and Levy, S. and Mason-Buck, G. and Nieto-Caballero, M. and Syndercombe-Court, D. and Udekwu, Klas and Young, B. G. and Mason, C. E. and Dybwad, M. and Lee, P. K. H. | ||||||
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Title: | Characterization of the public transit air microbiome and resistome reveals geographical specificity | ||||||
Series Name/Journal: | Microbiome | ||||||
Year of publishing : | 2021 | ||||||
Volume: | 9 | ||||||
Article number: | 112 | ||||||
Number of Pages: | 19 | ||||||
Publisher: | BMC | ||||||
ISSN: | 2049-2618 | ||||||
Language: | English | ||||||
Publication Type: | Research article | ||||||
Article category: | Scientific peer reviewed | ||||||
Version: | Published version | ||||||
Copyright: | Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 | ||||||
Full Text Status: | Public | ||||||
Subjects: | (A) Swedish standard research categories 2011 > 1 Natural sciences > 106 Biological Sciences (Medical to be 3 and Agricultural to be 4) > Microbiology (Microbiology in the medical area to be 30109) | ||||||
Keywords: | Microbiome, Metagenomics, Microbial ecology, Air microbiology, Bioinformatics, High-throughput sequencing | ||||||
URN:NBN: | urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-112563 | ||||||
Permanent URL: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:slu:epsilon-p-112563 | ||||||
Additional ID: |
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ID Code: | 24738 | ||||||
Faculty: | NJ - Fakulteten för naturresurser och jordbruksvetenskap | ||||||
Department: | (NL, NJ) > Dept. of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment | ||||||
Deposited By: | SLUpub Connector | ||||||
Deposited On: | 28 Jun 2021 15:25 | ||||||
Metadata Last Modified: | 28 Jun 2021 15:31 |
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