Characterization of bacterial species and antibiotic resistance observed in Seoul, South Korea's popular Gangnam-gu area

Abstract

Public transportation facilities, especially road crossings, which raise the pathogenic potential of urban environments, are the most conducive places for the transfer of germs between people and the environment. It is necessary to study the variety of the microbiome and describe its unique characteristics to comprehend these relationships. In this investigation, we used 16 S rRNA gene sample sequencing to examine the biological constituents and inhalable, thoracic, and alveolar particles in aerosol samples collected from busy areas in the Gangnam-gu district of the Seoul metropolitan area using a mobile vehicle. We also conducted a comparison analysis of these findings with the previously published data and tested for antibiotic resistance to determine the distribution of bacteria related to the human microbiome and the environment. Actinobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Bacteriodetes, Proteobacteria, and Firmicutes were the top five phyla in the bacterial 16 S rRNA libraries, accounting for >90 % of all readings across all examined locations. The most prevalent classes among the 12 found bacterial classes were Bacilli (45.812 %), Gammaproteobacteria (25.238 %), Tissierellia (13.078 %), Clostridia (5.697 %), and Alphaproteobacteria (5.142 %). The data acquired offer useful information on the variety of bacterial communities and their resistance to antibiotic drugs on the streets of Gangnam-gu, one of the most significant social centers in the Seoul metropolitan area. This work emphasizes the relevance of biological particles and particulate matter in the air, and it suggests more research is needed to perform biological characterization of the ambient particulate matter.

Keywords: 16S rRNA sequencing; Antibiotic resistance; Bacterial abundance; Heavy traffic locations; Particulate matter.

Fig. 1

Sampling location map (Gangnam-gu district of Seoul metropolitan area).

Fig. 2

Sampling route for the sampling area with major stops.

Fig. 3

The relative abundance of bacterial OTUs at the phylum level for each sample was taken from various sampling locations.

Fig. 4

The relative abundance of bacterial OTUs at the genus level for each sample was taken from various sampling locations.

Fig. 5

The Bray-Curtis dissimilarity and Jaccard Distance are used to visualize beta diversity in principle coordinate analysis (PCoA).

Fig. 6

Mechanism of resitance and persistence of bacterial cells against anti-microbial drugs.