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. 2022 Jun 14:13:928921.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.928921. eCollection 2022.

Environmental Factors Shaping the Diversity and Spatial-Temporal Distribution of Indoor and Outdoor Culturable Airborne Fungal Communities in Tianjin University Campus, Tianjin, China

Chaonan Yuan  1 , Xiao Wang  1 , Lorenzo Pecoraro  1
Affiliations

Environmental Factors Shaping the Diversity and Spatial-Temporal Distribution of Indoor and Outdoor Culturable Airborne Fungal Communities in Tianjin University Campus, Tianjin, China

Chaonan Yuan et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

Airborne fungi have significant influence on air quality and may pose adverse effects on human health due to their allergenic and pathogenic effect. We carried out a 1-year survey on the airborne fungal diversity and concentration of indoor and outdoor environments, within the Tianjin University campus. Airborne fungi were sampled using an HAS-100B air sampler. Isolated fungal strains were identified based on morphological and molecular analysis. A total of 641 fungal strains belonging to 173 species and 74 genera were identified in this study. The dominant fungal genera were Cladosporium (29.49%), Alternaria (25.9%), and Epicoccum (6.24%), while the most frequently occurring species were A. alternata (15.44%), C. cladosporioides (11.86%), and E. nigrum (5.77%). The mean fungal concentration at different sites ranged from 0 to 420 CFU/m3, which is lower than the permissive standard level. There was a seasonal variation in the airborne fungal community, while temperature and relative humidity were positively correlated with the fungal concentration and diversity at almost all the sites. Higher fungal diversity was recorded in peak period of human traffic at the two canteens, whereas the two dormitories showed higher fungal diversity in off-peak period. Our study provides the first report on the diversity and concentration of airborne fungal species within different Tianjin University campus environments and clarifies the role played by environmental factors on the analyzed fungal community. Our results may represent valuable information for air quality monitoring and microbial pollution control in densely populated human living environments.

Keywords: ITS sequencing; airborne fungi; concentration; environmental factors; fungal diversity and community structure; indoor; morphology; outdoor.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Schematic diagram of Tianjin University Campus in Nankai district, with detailed location of the six sampling sites.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Total number of fungi isolated from different locations (A) and months (B,C). 3CP, Canteen 3 Peak; 3CO, Canteen 3 Off-peak; 5CP, Canteen 5 Peak; 5CO, Canteen 5 Off-peak; CDP, Chinese student Dorm Peak; CDO, Chinese student Dorm Off-peak; FDP, Foreign student Dorm Peak; FDO, Foreign student Dorm Off-peak; LIB, Library; PS, Peiyang Square.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Variation of annual average fungal concentration (CFU/m3) at different sampling sites. **P < 0.01, *P < 0.05. 3CP, Canteen 3 Peak; 3CO, Canteen 3 Off-peak; 5CP, Canteen 5 Peak; 5CO, Canteen 5 Off-peak; CDP, Chinese student Dorm Peak; CDO, Chinese student Dorm Off-peak; FDP, Foreign student Dorm Peak; FDO, Foreign student Dorm Off-peak.
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Fungal colony concentration variations in each location at different seasons. 3CP, Canteen 3 Peak; 3CO, Canteen 3 Off-peak; 5CP, Canteen 5 Peak; 5CO, Canteen 5 Off-peak; CDP, Chinese student Dorm Peak; CDO, Chinese student Dorm Off-peak; FDP, Foreign student Dorm Peak; FDO, Foreign student Dorm Off-peak; LIB, Library; PS, Peiyang Square.
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Krona chart indicating the taxonomic diversity and relative abundance of fungi isolated in this study. Round values are reported.
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
Krona chart indicating the dominant fungal genera and species isolated in this study. Others = strains < 1%. Round values are reported.
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 7
Fungal community structures (genera) with relative abundances in the sampling locations and months. (A,C) Represent the relative abundances of fungal genera in different locations and months. (B,D) Represent the heatmaps of fungal genera.
FIGURE 8
FIGURE 8
Venn diagram showing the comparative fungal species isolated from the peak and off-peak periods at different canteens (left) and dormitories (right).
FIGURE 9
FIGURE 9
Principal co-ordinate analysis (PCoA) plots of fungal communities in peak and off-peak periods at canteens (A) and dormitories (B) based on Bray–Curtis distance. The r and p-values of analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) are shown in each figure.
FIGURE 10
FIGURE 10
Principal co-ordinate analysis (PCoA) plot of fungal communities detected in four seasons.
FIGURE 11
FIGURE 11
Shannon index variations across seasons at different sampling sites. (A) Canteen 3, (B) Canteen 5, (C) Chinese student Dorm, (D) Foreign student Dorm, (E) Library and Peiyang Square.
FIGURE 12
FIGURE 12
Correlation heat map of the dominant fungal genera (with abundance > 5) and environmental factors. Different colors infer to Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients (r). RH and T refer to “relative humidity” and “temperature.” p is indicated as: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01.
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