Dynamics of Microbial Community and Potential Microbial Pollutants in Shopping Malls

Metabarcode insights into the airborne fungal diversity in the indoor and outdoor environments in archives from Yunnan, Southwestern China

Monitoring dynamics of airborne fungal species and controlling of harmful ones are of vital importance to conservation of cultural relics. However, the evaluation of air quality and the community structure characteristics of microorganisms, especially fungi, in the atmosphere of archives is in a stage of continuous exploration though more than 4,000 archives were constructed in China. Seventy-two air samples were collected in this study under different spatial and weather conditions from the archives of Kunming Medical University, located in the Kunming metropolitan area, Yunnan province, southwestern China. A total of 22 airborne fungal classes, 160 genera and 699 ASVs were identified, the species diversity is on the rise with the strengthening of air circulation with the outside space, and thus the intensive energy metabolism and activity were found in the spaces with window and sunny weather, except for the higher lipid synthesis of indoor samples than that of outdoor ones. Furthermore, there were significant differences in fungal community composition and abundance between sunny and rainy weathers. A considerable number of species have been identified as indicator in various environmental and weather conditions of the archives, and temperature and humidity were thought to have significant correlations with the abundance of these species. Meanwhile, Cladosporium and Alternaria were the dominant genera here, which may pose a threat to the health of archive professionals. Therefore, monitoring and controlling the growth of these fungal species is crucial for both conservation of paper records and health of archive professionals.

Spatiotemporal Changes of Antibiotic Resistance, Potential Pathogens, and Health Risk in Kindergarten Dust

The microorganisms present in kindergartens are extremely important for children's health during their three-year preschool education. To assess the risk of outdoor dust in kindergartens, the antibiotic resistome and potential pathogens were investigated in dust samples collected from 59 kindergartens in Xiamen, southeast China in both the winter and summer. Both high-throughput quantitative PCR and metagenome analysis revealed a higher richness and abundance of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in winter (P < 0.05). Besides, the bloom of ARGs and potential pathogens was evident in the urban kindergartens. The co-occurrence patterns among ARGs, mobile genetic elements (MGEs), and potential pathogens suggested some bacterial pathogens were potential hosts of ARGs and MGEs. We found a large number of high-risk ARGs in the dust; the richness and abundance of high-risk ARGs were higher in winter and urban kindergartens compared to in summer and peri-urban kindergartens, respectively. The results of the co-occurrence patterns and high-risk ARGs jointly reveal that urbanization will significantly increase the threat of urban dust to human beings and their risks will be higher in winter. This study unveils the close association between ARGs/mobile ARGs and potential pathogens and emphasizes that we should pay more attention to the health risks induced by their combination.

Metaphors as design tools for microbial consortia: An analysis of recent peer-reviewed literature

Single engineered microbial species cannot always conduct complex transformations, while complex, incompletely defined microbial consortia have heretofore been suited to a limited range of tasks. As biodesigners bridge this gap with intentionally designed microbial communities, they will, intentionally or otherwise, build communities that embody particular ideas about what microbial communities can and should be. Here, we suggest that metaphors-ideas about what microbial communities are like-are therefore important tools for designing synthetic consortia-based bioreactors. We identify a range of metaphors currently employed in peer-reviewed microbiome research articles, characterizing each through its potential structural implications and distinctive imagery. We present this metaphor catalogue in the interest of, first, making metaphors visible as design choices, second, enabling deliberate experimentation with them towards expanding the potential design space of the field, and third, encouraging reflection on the goals and values they embed.

A comprehensive review of microbial contamination in the indoor environment: sources, sampling, health risks, and mitigation strategies

The quality of the indoor environment significantly impacts human health and productivity, especially given the amount of time individuals spend indoors globally. While chemical pollutants have been a focus of indoor air quality research, microbial contaminants also have a significant bearing on indoor air quality. This review provides a comprehensive overview of microbial contamination in built environments, covering sources, sampling strategies, and analysis methods. Microbial contamination has various origins, including human occupants, pets, and the outdoor environment. Sampling strategies for indoor microbial contamination include air, surface, and dust sampling, and various analysis methods are used to assess microbial diversity and complexity in indoor environments. The review also discusses the health risks associated with microbial contaminants, including bacteria, fungi, and viruses, and their products in indoor air, highlighting the need for evidence-based studies that can relate to specific health conditions. The importance of indoor air quality is emphasized from the perspective of the COVID-19 pandemic. A section of the review highlights the knowledge gap related to microbiological burden in indoor environments in developing countries, using India as a representative example. Finally, potential mitigation strategies to improve microbiological indoor air quality are briefly reviewed.

Characterization of microbial community and antibiotic resistome in intra urban water, Wenzhou China

The present study investigated the water quality index, microbial composition and antimicrobial resistance genes in urban water habitats. Combined chemicals testing, metagenomic analyses and qualitative PCR (qPCR) were conducted on 20 locations, including rivers from hospital surrounds (n = 7), community surrounds (n = 7), and natural wetlands (n = 6). Results showed that the indexes of total nitrogen, phosphorus, and ammonia nitrogen of hospital waters were 2-3 folds high than that of water from wetlands. Bioinformatics analysis revealed a total of 1,594 bacterial species from 479 genera from the three groups of water samples. The hospital-related samples had the greatest number of unique genera, followed by those from wetlands and communities. The hospital-related samples contained a large number of bacteria associated with the gut microbiome, including Alistipes, Prevotella, Klebsiella, Escherichia, Bacteroides, and Faecalibacterium, which were all significantly enriched compared to samples from the wetlands. Nevertheless, the wetland waters enriched bacteria from Nanopelagicus, Mycolicibacterium and Gemmatimonas, which are typically associated with aquatic environments. The presence of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs) that were associated with different species origins in each water sample was observed. The majority of ARGs from hospital-related samples were carried by bacteria from Acinetobacter, Aeromonas and various genera from Enterobacteriaceae, which each was associated with multiple ARGs. In contrast, the ARGs that were exclusively in samples from communities and wetlands were carried by species that encoded only 1 to 2 ARGs each and were not normally associated with human infections. The qPCR showed that water samples of hospital surrounds had higher concentrations of intI1 and antimicrobial resistance genes such as tetA, ermA, ermB, qnrB, sul1, sul2 and other beta-lactam genes. Further genes of functional metabolism reported that the enrichment of genes associated with the degradation/utilization of nitrate and organic phosphodiester were detected in water samples around hospitals and communities compared to those from wetlands. Finally, correlations between the water quality indicators and the number of ARGs were evaluated. The presence of total nitrogen, phosphorus, and ammonia nitrogen were significantly correlated with the presence of ermA and sul1. Furthermore, intI1 exhibited a significant correlation with ermB, sul1, and bla_SHV, indicating a prevalence of ARGs in urban water environments might be due to the integron intI1's diffusion-promoting effect. However, the high abundance of ARGs was limited to the waters around the hospital, and we did not observe the geographical transfer of ARGs along with the river flow. This may be related to water purifying capacity of natural riverine wetlands. Taken together, continued surveillance is required to assess the risk of bacterial horizontal transmission and its potential impact on public health in the current region.