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Metagenomic characterisation of bioaerosols during the dry season in Mexico City

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Abstract

Air pollution in urban areas is one of the main problems because of its effects on human health and the environment. The levels of critical pollutants such as ozone and airborne particles and their impacts on human health have been widely studied, neglecting the microbiological communities present in the air, which alone or in combination with chemical contaminants can have detrimental effects on human health. In this study, we employed a metagenomic approach to characterise the bacterial and fungal communities, using 16S rRNA and the internal transcribed spacer region of the nuclear ribosomal RNA. The study took place in Mexico City during the dry season, at days with high levels of ozone and suspended particles (March 14 to 18, 2016). We found a total of 147 bacterial genera, of which the most abundant ones were Microbispora (9%), Paracoccus (6%), Exiguobacterium (6%), Kocuria (3.0%), Friedmanniella (3%), Rubellimicrobium (2%), Sphingomonas (2%) and Methylobacterium (2%). We also found a total of 211 fungal genera, mainly Cladosporium (26%), Phoma (15%), Aureobasidium (11%) and Cryptococcus (3%). Some bacterial and fungal genera reported in this study have been reported as a cause of allergic, respiratory or infectious diseases. Our findings may serve as a reference for further monitoring of pathogens present in the air during periods with high levels of ozone and airborne particles, studying their distribution patterns and evaluating the possible combined effects of those particles and pollutants as a risk factor for the health of the general population.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Cesar Guerrero Guerra, Miguel Angel Meneses, Wilfrido Gutiérrez López, Manuel Garcia Espinosa and Ana Rosa Flores Márquez from the Centro de Ciencias de la Atmósfera, UNAM, for technical assistance. The authors also thank to Daniel Peña Maziel for the image of Mexico City. Brunner-Mendoza C. thanks the postdoctoral scholarship (2017–2019) awarded by DGAPA, UNAM.

Funding

This work was funded by the “Secretaría de Ciencia y Tecnología e Innovación de la Ciudad de México” (SECITI/050/2016; SECITI/057/2017) and the “Programa de Apoyo a Proyectos de Investigación e Innovación Tecnológica” (PAPIIT) (IN229016), UNAM.

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  1. Dr. René Drucker Colin for his contribution and diffusion of science and for believing in the work and capacity of Mexican scientists.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Ciencias de la Atmósfera, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Circuito Exterior s/n. Coyoacan, 04510, Mexico City, Mexico

    M. C. Calderón-Ezquerro, N. Serrano-Silva & C. Brunner-Mendoza

  2. Departamento de Microbiología y Parasitología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Circuito Exterior s/n. Coyoacán, 04510, Mexico City, Mexico

    C. Brunner-Mendoza

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  1. M. C. Calderón-Ezquerro
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Correspondence to M. C. Calderón-Ezquerro.

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Fig. S1

Taxonomic distribution of airborne bacteria in Mexico City collected during the dry season (March 2016) in Mexico City. (HTML 261 kb)

Fig. S2

Taxonomic distribution of airborne fungi in Mexico City collected during the dry season (March 2016) in Mexico City. (HTML 270 kb)

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Calderón-Ezquerro, M.C., Serrano-Silva, N. & Brunner-Mendoza, C. Metagenomic characterisation of bioaerosols during the dry season in Mexico City. Aerobiologia 36, 493–505 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10453-020-09649-5

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