The size distribution of airborne bacteria and human pathogenic bacteria in a commercial composting plant

doi:10.1007/s11783-020-1356-4

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2021, Vol. 15

Issue (3) : 39 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-020-1356-4

RESEARCH ARTICLE

The size distribution of airborne bacteria and human pathogenic bacteria in a commercial composting plant

Min Gao¹, Ziye Yang^1,², Yajie Guo¹, Mo Chen¹, Tianlei Qiu¹, Xingbin Sun²(

), Xuming Wang¹(

)

¹. Beijing Key Laboratory of Agricultural Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Beijing Agro-Biotechnology Research Center, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100097, China
². College of Forestry, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China

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Abstract

•Bacterial concentrations from eight stages were 10⁴–10⁵copies/m³.

•Diameter influenced clustering of bacterial and HPB lineages.

•Dg of 8 HPB ranged from 2.42 to 5.09 μm in composting areas.

•Dg of 8 HPB ranged from 3.70 to 8.96 μm in packaging areas.

•HPB had high concentrations and small sizes in composting areas.

Composting plants are regarded as one of the important sources of environmental bioaerosols. However, limitations in the size distribution of airborne bacteria have prevented our comprehensive understanding of their risk to human health and their dispersal behavior. In this study, different sizes of airborne bacteria were collected using an eight-stage impactor from a full-scale composting facility. Size-related abundance and communities of airborne bacteria as well as human pathogenic bacteria (HPB) were investigated using 16S rRNA gene sequencing coupled with droplet digital PCR. Our results indicate that the bacterial concentrations from the eight stages were approximately 10⁴–10⁵copies/m³. Although no statistical correlation was detected between the particle size and the Shannon index, the influence of size on bacterial lineages was observed in both composting and packaging areas. For airborne bacteria from different stages, the dominant phyla were Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria, and the dominant genera was Bacillus. Seven out of eight HPB with a small geometric mean aerodynamic diameter had a high concentration in composting areas. Based on diameters of 2.42 to 5.09 μm, most HPB in the composting areas were expected to be deposited on the bronchus and secondary bronchus. However, in the packaging areas, the deposition of HPB (diameters 3.70 to 8.96 μm) occurred in the upper part of the respiratory tract. Our results on the size distribution, abundance, and diversity of these bacteria offer important information for the systematic evaluation of bacterial pathogenicity and the potential health impacts on workers in composting plants and the surrounding residents.

Keywords Size distribution Airborne bacteria Biological diversity Human pathogenic bacteria Composting plants

Corresponding Author(s): Xingbin Sun,Xuming Wang

Issue Date: 10 November 2020

Cite this article:

Min Gao,Ziye Yang,Yajie Guo, et al. The size distribution of airborne bacteria and human pathogenic bacteria in a commercial composting plant[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2021, 15(3): 39.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-020-1356-4
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2021/V15/I3/39

Fig.1 Bacterial abundance and diversity were related to different particle sizes in the composting and packaging areas. C(I–VIII) and P(I–VIII) present the eight stages in the composting and packaging areas, respectively. In the box plots, boxes frame upper and lower quartiles, lines represent the medians, whiskers denote ranges, and “○” represent the means.

Fig.2 The size-related dominant genera of airborne bacteria in the composting and packaging areas (representing 60 dominant genera).

Fig.3 Constrained principal-coordinate analysis (CPCoA) of bacterial lineages from eight sizes of particles in both the composting and packaging areas based on relative abundances of genera.

Fig.4 The size distributions of particles associated with human pathogenic bacteria (HPB) in the atmospheric environment of composting and packaging areas.

Tab.1 The concentration, and geometric s.d. and aerodynamic diameters of particles associated with eight HPB genes in atmospheric environments from the composting and packaging areas

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