Abstract
Particulate matter (PM) has been a threat to the environment and public health in the metropolises of developing industrial countries such as Beijing. The microorganisms associated with PM have an impact on human health if they are exposed to the respiratory tract persistently. There are few reports on the microbial resources collected from PM and their antimicrobial activities. In this study, we greatly expanded the diversity of available commensal organisms by collecting 1,258 bacterial and 456 fungal isolates from 63 PM samples. A total of 77 bacterial genera and 35 fungal genera were included in our pure cultures, with Bacillus as the most prevalent cultured bacterial genus, Aspergillus, and Penicillium as the most prevalent fungal ones. During heavy-haze days, the numbers of colony-forming units (CFUs) and isolates of bacteria and fungi were decreased. Bacillus, Paenibacillus, and Chaetomium were found to be enriched during haze days, while Kocuria, Microbacterium, and Penicillium were found to be enriched during non-haze days. Antimicrobial activity against common pathogens have been found in 40 bacterial representatives and 1 fungal representative. The collection of airborne strains will provide a basis to greatly increase our understanding of the relationship between bacteria and fungi associated with PM and human health.
Highlights
IntroductionFrequent haze caused mainly by particulate matter (PM) has been a severe problem threatening public health in north China (Cheng et al, 2013; Cao et al, 2014; Gao et al, 2015; Tan et al, 2016; Yan et al, 2016, 2018; Guo et al, 2020; Yang et al, 2021; Zhao et al, 2021)
The aim in this study is to address the following questions: (1) what are the concentrations of culturable microbial colonies in various haze levels? (2) Does the culturable microbial community composition differ among various Particulate matter (PM) samples, or different haze-level samples? (3) Which isolated strains from PM samples show anti-microbial activities against common pathogens?
Sampling was conducted by three portable ambient air samplers (AirMetrics, United States): the impactors were removed from the filter holder of the first for total suspended particulates (TSP) samples, the second was assembled with PM10 impactor for PM10 samples, and the third was assembled with both PM10 and PM2.5 impactors for PM2.5 samples
Summary
Frequent haze caused mainly by particulate matter (PM) has been a severe problem threatening public health in north China (Cheng et al, 2013; Cao et al, 2014; Gao et al, 2015; Tan et al, 2016; Yan et al, 2016, 2018; Guo et al, 2020; Yang et al, 2021; Zhao et al, 2021). Airborne microorganisms may play an important role in human health, either as human pathogens or allergens (Vermani et al, 2010; Yamamoto et al, 2012; Haas et al, 2013). Despite the fact that the culture-independent method can reflect the diversity of airborne microbial community rapidly, the roles and functions of culturable microorganisms which can show the potential ability in human health and atmospheric chemistry are neglected. Using culture-dependent methods, the concentrations and composition of the culturable microbial community in the atmosphere have been investigated (Haas et al, 2013; Alghamdi et al, 2014; Fang, 2014; Li et al, 2015; Niazi et al, 2015; Oh et al, 2015; Dong et al, 2016; Okubo et al, 2017; Yuan et al, 2017). We can obtain the microbial strains for further study of the metabolic functions of airborne microorganisms using the culture-dependent method
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
