EWRE Division, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, 600036, India.
Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, 600036, India.
Sci Rep. 2017 Sep 11;7(1):11171. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-11727-7.
Quantitative estimations of fungal aerosols are important to understand their role in causing respiratory diseases to humans especially in the developing and highly populated countries. In this study we sampled and quantified the three most dominantly found allergenic airborne fungi, Aspergillus fumigatus, Cladosporium cladosporioides, and Alternaria alternata from ambient PM samples using the quantitative PCR (qPCR) technique in a southern tropical Indian region, for one full year. Highest concentrations of A. fumigatus and C. cladosporioides were observed during monsoon whereas A. alternata displayed an elevated concentration in winter. The meteorological parameters such as temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and precipitation exhibited a substantial influence on the atmospheric concentrations of allergenic fungal aerosols. The morphological features of various allergenic fungal spores present in the PM were investigated and the spores were found to possess distinct structural features. In a maiden attempt over this region we correlate the ambient fungal concentrations with the epidemiological allergy occurrence to obtain firsthand and preliminary information about the causative fungal allergen to the inhabitants exposed to bioaerosols. Our findings may serve as an important reference to atmospheric scientists, aero-biologists, doctors, and general public.
定量估计真菌气溶胶对于了解它们在引起人类呼吸道疾病方面的作用非常重要，特别是在发展中国家和人口高度密集的国家。在这项研究中，我们使用定量 PCR (qPCR)技术，从南方热带印度地区的环境 PM 样本中采样并定量了三种最常见的过敏原性空气真菌，烟曲霉、枝孢菌和交链孢菌。烟曲霉和枝孢菌的浓度在季风期间最高，而交链孢菌在冬季显示出升高的浓度。气象参数，如温度、相对湿度、风速和降水，对过敏原性真菌气溶胶的大气浓度有很大的影响。我们研究了 PM 中存在的各种过敏原性真菌孢子的形态特征，发现这些孢子具有独特的结构特征。在该地区的首次尝试中，我们将环境真菌浓度与流行病学过敏发生相关联，以获得暴露于生物气溶胶的居民的真菌过敏原的第一手和初步信息。我们的发现可以为大气科学家、空气生物学家、医生和公众提供重要的参考。
