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Characterization of microbial communities in urban subway: connotation for indoor environment quality and public health

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Abstract

Metagenomics is a novel genomic tool employed to accurately study the composition of microbial communities in their ecological environments, including mass transport systems. Despite the potential significance of these sites as sources of exposure, the pathogenic microbiomes in these constructed settings remain unexplored. In this study, high-throughput sequencing was utilized to identify the microbiota obtained from the Metropolitan Transport of Shanghai (MTS) during the spring and summer. A diverse range of microbiota, especially pathogens, and models for mapping diversity and environmental variables were analyzed using the metagenomic techniques. The results indicate that bacteria accounted for 95.26% of the categorized genes in the 108 aerosol samples analyzed during the spring and summer, with the remaining 4.73% attributed to eukaryotes, viruses, and archaea. We successfully identified 86 microorganisms that align with the National Microbiology Data Center's List of Pathogenic Microorganisms, uncovering unique characteristics of various species with potential health implications throughout across seasons. Additionally, the distribution and diversity of the microbiota were significantly influenced by temperature, humidity, season, and time of day. The study's findings establish a framework for investigating and evaluating potential public health risks, offering early warning of biosecurity concerns related to these built environments. They also provide a comprehensive and unbiased perspective on the characteristics of microbial communities and potential pathogens in urban metros. Environmental and public health experts will find this investigation into the pathogenic microbiomes found in aerosol samples compelling.

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Data availability

All raw sequence data generated by this study have been made available in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive under BioProject PRJNA934719. Metadata are also stored in the SRA BioProject PRJNA934719. The high-quality Figures are available via the Figshare repository, https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.22566736.

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Funding

The authors gratefully thank the Foundation of Shanghai Municipal Health commission (Grant number:202240327 and 202040185) and Shanghai 3-year Public Health Action Plan (Grant number: GWVI-11.1–39), the Fudan university and Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention for financial support and Genomics(www.genomics.cn) for sequencing analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China

    Yongping Liu

  2. Department of Public Service and Health Safety Evaluation, Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shanghai, 200336, China

    Lijun Zhang & Xiaojing Li

  3. Department of Environmental Health, Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shanghai, 200336, China

    Duo Wang, Yewen Shi, Ling Tong, Feier Chen, Chunyang Dong & Jianghua Zhang

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  1. Yongping Liu
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Correspondence to Chunyang Dong or Jianghua Zhang.

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Liu, Y., Zhang, L., Wang, D. et al. Characterization of microbial communities in urban subway: connotation for indoor environment quality and public health. Air Qual Atmos Health (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-024-01515-4

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