The microbiota in feces of domestic pigeons in Seoul, Korea

Abstract

In Korea, feral pigeons pose significant public health risks because they carry various zoonotic pathogens. Human population density is a significant factor in zoonotic disease events. Seoul is one of the largest cities by population density among developed countries and where most of the homeless population in Korea exists. We designed this study to compare the microbiota of pigeon feces by regional characteristics and the presence of homeless individuals. Therefore, this study used 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing to detect possible pathogenic microbes and assess the current risk of zoonosis in Seoul, South Korea. Pigeon fecal samples (n = 144) obtained from 19 public sites (86 and 58 fecal samples from regions in and outside Seoul, respectively) were examined. Potentially pathogenic bacteria were also detected in the fecal samples; Campylobacter spp. was found in 19 samples from 13 regions, Listeriaceae was found in seven samples, and Chlamydia spp. was found in three samples from two regions. Principal coordinates analysis and permutational multivariate analysis of variance revealed a significant difference in bacterial composition between the regions in Seoul (n = 86) and outside Seoul (n = 58) and between the regions with (n = 81) and without (n = 63) homeless individuals. Overall, this study identified various potentially pathogenic microorganisms in pigeon feces at public sites in South Korea. Moreover, this study demonstrates that the microbial composition was influenced by regional characteristics and homelessness. Taken together, this study provides important information for public health strategic planning and disease control.

Keywords: Homeless; Microbiota; Pathogen; Pigeon; Seoul.

Fig. 1

Study area in which pigeon samples were obtained. In total, 144 samples were collected in 19 regions in Seoul (1,2,3,4,8,10,11,12,13,17,18,19) and surrounding cities (5,6,7,9,14,15,16). Each number refers to the same numbers of region in Table 1, respectively.

Fig. 2

Fecal microbiota composition of pigeons obtained from 19 regions in Seoul and surrounding cities (n = 144) at the genus level. Genus occupying more than 0.5% of reads are shown.

Fig. 3

Fecal microbial diversities of pigeons obtained from regions in Seoul (n = 86) and outside Seoul (n = 58). (A) The number of species observed and (B) Shannon index between regions in and outside Seoul. (C) Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) representing the fecal microbiota composition between the groups. The red and blue dots represent the samples obtained from regions in and outside Seoul, respectively. (D) Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) of differentially abundant bacterial taxa between the groups. Only taxa reaching a significant (>2) linear discriminant analysis (LDA) threshold are shown. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)

Fig. 4

Fecal microbial diversities of pigeons obtained from regions with and without homeless people. (A) The number of species observed and (B) Shannon index between regions with (n = 81) and without homeless people (n = 63). (C) PCoA representing the fecal microbiota composition between the groups. The red and blue dots represent the samples in regions with and without homeless people, respectively. (D) LEfSe of differentially abundant bacterial taxa between the groups. Only taxa reaching a significant (>2) LDA threshold are shown. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)