Urban Transit System Microbial Communities Differ by Surface Type and Interaction with Humans and the Environment

Author:

Hsu Tiffany12,Joice Regina1,Vallarino Jose1,Abu-Ali Galeb1,Hartmann Erica M.3,Shafquat Afrah1,DuLong Casey1,Baranowski Catherine1,Gevers Dirk2,Green Jessica L.3,Morgan Xochitl C.12ORCID,Spengler John D.1,Huttenhower Curtis12ORCID

Affiliation:

1. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

2. Broad Institute, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

3. University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA

Abstract

Mass transit environments, specifically, urban subways, are distinct microbial environments with high occupant densities, diversities, and turnovers, and they are thus especially relevant to public health. Despite this, only three culture-independent subway studies have been performed, all since 2013 and all with widely differing designs and conclusions. In this study, we profiled the Boston subway system, which provides 238 million trips per year overseen by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA). This yielded the first high-precision microbial survey of a variety of surfaces, ridership environments, and microbiological functions (including tests for potential pathogenicity) in a mass transit environment. Characterizing microbial profiles for multiple transit systems will become increasingly important for biosurveillance of antibiotic resistance genes or pathogens, which can be early indicators for outbreak or sanitation events. Understanding how human contact, materials, and the environment affect microbial profiles may eventually allow us to rationally design public spaces to sustain our health in the presence of microbial reservoirs.

Funder

Alonzo Smythe Yerby Postdoctoral Fellowship

HHS | National Institutes of Health

NIH/NHGRI

National Science Foundation

Groupe Danone

Army Research Office/Department of the Army

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Publisher

American Society for Microbiology

Subject

Computer Science Applications,Genetics,Molecular Biology,Modelling and Simulation,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics,Biochemistry,Physiology,Microbiology

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