Temperate airborne grass pollen defined by spatio-temporal shifts in community composition

Brennan, Georgina; Potter, Caitlin; Vere, Natasha de; Griffith, Gareth; Skjøth, Carsten Ambelas; Osborne, Nicholas J.; Wheeler, Benedict W.; McInnes, Rachel N.; Clewlow, Yolanda; Barber, A.; Hanlon, Helen M.; Hegarty, Matthew J.; Jones, Laura; Kurganskiy, Alexander; Rowney, Francis M.; Armitage, Charlotte; Adams‐Groom, Beverley; Ford, Col R.; Petch, Geoffrey; Creer, Simon

doi:10.1038/s41559-019-0849-7

Cited by 86 publications

(68 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Oak tree pollen seasons are also very variable in their onset and severity both spatially and temporally (average difference 13 days between Scotland and the South East of England) (Table S5), partly due to the differences in species growing in each region. 8 Grass pollen is the most important aeroallergen in the United Kingdom, 9 with the onset occurring in late April if the Spring is very mild, but more usually in mid-late May, with the first high counts in late May to early June, or mid-June in Scotland and the far North of England (Table S6) (Table S7).…”

Section: Alder Pollen Had Limited Data But Sufficient To Show Thatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional calendars and seasonal statistics for the United Kingdom's main pollen allergens

Adams‐Groom

Skjøth

Selby

et al. 2020

Allergy

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Section: Alder Pollen Had Limited Data But Sufficient To Show Thatmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional calendars and seasonal statistics for the United Kingdom's main pollen allergens

Adams‐Groom

Skjøth

Selby

et al. 2020

Allergy

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“…Within the fungal realm, the program will add an important airborne perspective to ongoing perspectives focused on soil (Tedersoo et al, 2014;Bahram et al, 2018) and water (http://pk.emu.ee/en/structure/hydrobiologyandfishery/ research/projects/international-projects/funaqua/). While we have focused here on fungal diversity, samples collected by the GSSP network can potentially also be utilized for other taxonomic groups such as plants where the same sampling method has been succesfully applied (Brennan et al, 2019). The GSSP network is open to new sampling teams, and thus we encourage new members to join (https://www.helsinki.fi/en/ projects/lifeplan), especially from locations that are currently poorly covered.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring Fungal Communities With the Global Spore Sampling Project

et al. 2020

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The kingdom Fungi is a megadiverse group represented in all ecosystem types. The global diversity and distribution of fungal taxa are poorly known, in part due to the limitations related to traditional fruit-body survey methods. These previous hurdles are now being overcome by rapidly developing DNA-based surveys. Past fungal DNA surveys have predominantly examined soil samples, which capture high species diversity but represent only the local soil community. Recent work has shown that DNA samples collected from the air with cyclone samplers provide information on fungal diversity at the scale of some tens of kilometers around the sampling location. To test the feasibility of air sampling for investigating global patterns of fungal diversity, we established a new initiative called the Global Spore Sampling Project (GSSP). The GSSP currently involves 50 sampling locations distributed on all continents, with each location collecting two 24-h samples per week. Here we describe the GSSP methodology, including the sampling, DNA extraction and sequencing protocols, and the bioinformatics pipeline. We further report results based on 75 pilot samples from five locations, of which three in Europe, one in Australia, and one in Greenland. The results show highly consistent patterns, suggesting that GSSP holds much promise for systematic global fungal monitoring. The GSSP provides highly standardized sampling across space and time, enabling much-improved estimation of total fungal diversity, the global distribution of different fungal groups, fungal fruiting phenology, and the extent of long-distance dispersal in fungi.

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“…However, currently we cannot study this further in detail, since we cannot distinguish the different species in our microscopic analysis. Analysis by Next Generation Sequencing of the different grass species (16,17) could be used in future studies to relate the symptoms to the number of the different grass pollen species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Personalized pollen monitoring and hay fever symptom scores: a feasibility study

Weger

Hal

Bos

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Background. Pollen is a major trigger for allergic symptoms in sensitized individuals. Airborne pollen is usually monitored by Hirst type pollen samplers located at rooftop level, providing a general overview of the pollen distribution in the larger surroundings. In this feasibility study, grass pollen-sensitized subjects monitored the pollen in their direct environment using a portable pollen sampler (Pollensniffer) and scored their symptoms, to study the relation between symptom severity and personal grass pollen exposure. For comparison the symptoms were also correlated with pollen collected by the rooftop sampler. Methods. Nine grass pollen-sensitized individuals were enrolled in this study (May 2018) and asked to monitor personal pollen exposure using a Pollensniffer on their way to school, work or other destination, and to score their symptoms via a mobile app on a scale from 0 to 10. Daily pollen concentrations were collected by a Hirst type sampler at rooftop level. Pollen grains were analysed using a microscope. Results. Three of the four participants with high grass pollen-specific (GPS) IgE (>9.6 kU/l) reported high symptom scores (>4) and an analysis showed a significant correlation (CC) between eye, nose and lung symptoms and the grass pollen counts collected by the Pollensniffer, as well as the daily grass pollen concentrations monitored by the rooftop sampler (CC>0.54). In contrast, the participants with low GPS IgE levels (<9.6 kU/l) reported low symptom scores (<4) and often other sensitizations were present. For these subjects, no significant positive correlations (CC<0.3) of symptoms with either grass pollen collected by the personal or the rooftop sampler were found. Conclusion. Our results show that correlations between the severity of clinical symptoms of grass pollen allergic patients, and airborne grass pollen counts as determined by a personal pollen sampler (Pollensniffer) or a rooftop sampler, is restricted to patients with high GPS IgE levels, high symptom scores and no relevant other sensitizations. Based on the number of subjects included in this feasibility study, no conclusions can be drawn on the performance of the personal pollen sampler in relating symptoms and pollen exposure in comparison with the rooftop sampler.Trial registrationThe study was approved by the Committee Medical Ethics of the LUMC (approval numbers: NL63953.058.17/ P17.304).

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Temperate airborne grass pollen defined by spatio-temporal shifts in community composition

Cited by 86 publications

References 37 publications

Regional calendars and seasonal statistics for the United Kingdom's main pollen allergens

Regional calendars and seasonal statistics for the United Kingdom's main pollen allergens

Monitoring Fungal Communities With the Global Spore Sampling Project

Personalized pollen monitoring and hay fever symptom scores: a feasibility study

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