10th International Aerosol Conference
September 2 - September 7, 2018
America's Center Convention Complex
St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Abstract View


Bioaerosol Characterisation in the Transportation Environment

IAN COLBECK, Nikoletta Grydaki, Corinne Whitby, University of Essex, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK

     Abstract Number: 749
     Working Group: Bioaerosols

Abstract
Scientific studies have shown that commuting results in significant contribution to the daily exposure to air pollutants, which is highly affected by the mode of transport. Recently, the microbial fraction of particles has started receiving attention and a number studies have been conducted covering various means of transport. Moreover, findings reported in literature are mainly based on culture-based method. The aim of the current study was to investigate the abundance and diversity of the airborne micro-organisms in cars and trains on a commuter route. Air samples were collected and airborne bacteria characterised by high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA.

Bacterial levels during commuting by train ranged from 5.8 x 104 to 9.4 x 104 E. coli genome equivalents/m3 during morning, from 4.4 x 104 to 7.9 x 104 E. genome equivalents/m3 during afternoon and from 9.4 x 104 to 1.3 x 105 genome equivalents/m3 during evening journeys When comparing the two types of transport mode independent samples t-test confirmed that bacterial levels were significantly greater in train journeys compared to car journeys (p-value = 0.019 < 0.05).

At the class level, Actinobacteria showed the highest relative abundance across all train samples followed by Gammaproteobacteria. For the car samples, the most abundant bacterial classes on average were Bacilli and Actinobacteria. At the genus level human-skin associated genera including Corynebacterium and Staphylococcus were present in both trains and cars.

In summary the bacteria that were found in varying abundances in the air of the microenvironments belonged to the human-associated Corynebacterium spp. (2 OTUs), Streptococcus spp., Staphylococcus spp. (2 OTUs) and outdoor environment-related taxa Blastococcus, Brachybacterium, Hymenobacter, Arthrobacter and Carnobacterium.