Abstract:
Airborne fungi play an important role in air pollution and may have various negative effects on human health. In particular, Aspergillus fungi are pathogenic to humans and several domestic animals. In this work, Aspergillus strains isolated from airborne fungal communities sampled from different indoor and outdoor environments in Tianjin University were tested for pathogenicity on Drosophila melanogaster. Airborne fungi were sampled using an HAS-100B air sampler, over a one-year sampling period. Isolated fungal strains were identified based on morphological and molecular analysis. The Aspergillus-centered study was conducted as part of a larger work focusing on the total airborne fungal community in the analyzed environments, which yielded 173 fungal species. In this context, the genus Aspergillus showed the second-highest species richness, with 14 isolated species. Pathogenicity tests performed on male adults of Drosophila melanogaster through a bodily contact bioassay showed that all analyzed airborne Aspergillus species were pathogenic to fruit flies, with high insect mortality rates and shortened lifespan. All the studied fungi induced 100% mortality of fruit flies within 30 culture days, with one exception constituted by A. creber (39 days), while the shortest lifespan (17 days) was observed in fruit flies treated with A. tubingensis. Our results allow us to hypothesize that the studied airborne fungal species may have a pathogenic effect on humans, given the affinity between fruit flies and the human immune system, and may help to explain the health risk linked with Aspergillus fungi exposure in densely populated environments.
摘要:
空气传播真菌在空气污染中起着重要作用,并可能对人类健康产生各种负面影响。特别是,曲霉属真菌对人类和几种家畜具有致病性。在这项工作中,从天津大学不同室内和室外环境采样的空气真菌群落中分离的曲霉菌株对果蝇的致病性测试。使用HAS-100B空气采样器对空气传播的真菌进行采样,在一年的采样期内。基于形态学和分子分析鉴定分离的真菌菌株。以曲霉为中心的研究是一项更大的工作的一部分,重点是分析环境中空气传播的总真菌群落。产生了173种真菌。在这种情况下,曲霉属显示出第二高的物种丰富度,有14个孤立的物种。通过身体接触生物测定对果蝇的雄性成虫进行的致病性测试显示,所有分析的空气中的曲霉物种都对果蝇具有致病性,昆虫死亡率高,寿命缩短。所有研究的真菌在培养30天内诱导了100%的果蝇死亡率,除了A.creber(39天)构成的一个例外,而在用A.tubingensis处理的果蝇中观察到了最短的寿命(17天)。我们的结果使我们能够假设所研究的空气传播真菌物种可能对人类有致病作用,考虑到果蝇和人类免疫系统之间的亲和力,并可能有助于解释在人口稠密的环境中与曲霉属真菌接触相关的健康风险。