Urban Aerobiome and Effects on Human Health: A Systematic Review and Missing Evidence

Abstract

Urban air pollutants are a major public health concern and include biological matters which composes about 25% of the atmospheric aerosol particles. Airborne microorganisms were traditionally characterized by culture-based methods recognizing just 1.5–15.3% of the total bacterial diversity that was evaluable by genome signature in the air environment (aerobiome). Despite the large number of exposed people, urban aerobiomes are still weakly described even if recently advanced literature has been published. This paper aims to systematically review the state of knowledge on the urban aerobiome and human health effects. A total of 24 papers that used next generation sequencing (NGS) techniques for characterization and comprised a seasonal analysis have been included. A core of Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroides and various factors that influenced the community structure were detected. Heterogenic methods and results were reported, for both sampling and aerobiome diversity analysis, highlighting the necessity of in-depth and homogenized assessment thus reducing the risk of bias. The aerobiome can include threats for human health, such as pathogens and resistome spreading; however, its diversity seems to be protective for human health and reduced by high levels of air pollution. Evidence of the urban aerobiome effects on human health need to be filled up quickly for urban public health purposes.

Odour and indoor air quality hazards in railway cars: an Australian mixed methods case study

“…Table 2 illustrates the full spectrum of genera identified by genetic sequencing. Many of the genera identified match those commonly identified in other research relating to air cooled spaces, including Methylobacter, Staphylococcus, Bacillus, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, Streptococcus and Corynebacterium [4,14,29,[43][44][45][46]. Methylobacter spp and Staphylococcus spp were found to be present, and are recognised as producing unpleasant odours associated with air conditioning systems [4,14,15,29,[44][45][46].…”

Skin Microbiota: Setting up a Protocol to Evaluate a Correlation between the Microbial Flora and Skin Parameters

“…Actinobacteria, found at a higher percentage in sample B12020, are also present in all strips. In fact, Actinobacteria turn out to be one of the most extensive phyla in the bacterial domain, and are found in several environments, from terrestrial to aquatic [ 38 , 39 , 40 ]. As a result, the presence of this high percentage can be correlated with environmental contamination.…”

Short-term passive greenspace exposures have little effect on nasal microbiomes: a cross-over exposure study of a Māori cohort

“…Greenspace aerobiomes originate from leaf surfaces and soil, with modulating effects from vegetation complexity and height above the ground (i.e., vertical stratification; 10), air pollution (12), and wind-carried airshed influences (6). In urban settings, land cover has a strong influence on the composition of aerobiomes.…”

“…CC-BY-NC 4.0 International license perpetuity. It is made available under a preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in The copyright holder for this this version posted January 22, 2024. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.01.17.576148 doi: bioRxiv preprint Greenspace aerobiomes originate from leaf surfaces and soil, with modulating effects from vegetation complexity and height above the ground (i.e., vertical stratification; 10), air pollution (12), and wind-carried airshed influences (6). In urban settings, land cover has a strong influence on the composition of aerobiomes.…”