Lin Jun, Jiang Wenqian, Shi Yang, Cai Weiwen
Institute of Applied Genomics, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350108, China.
School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350108, China.
ACS Omega. 2021 Jan 27;6(5):3499-3507. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.0c04546. eCollection 2021 Feb 9.
Banknotes have long been suspected to be biologically "dirty" due to their frequent human contact, which may transmit human microbial pathogens. Still, it is an unsettled issue whether the microbes on banknotes pose a real threat to human health. In several previous studies, metagenomic sequencing was used to reveal the diversities of microbes on banknotes but live microorganism culture and functional verification were lacking. In this study, we collected banknotes of RMB in China as well as dollar bills in the United States and analyzed the microbial biodiversity and drug resistance genes carried by the identified microbes by metagenomic sequencing and in vitro culture methods. We identified eight major genera of drug-resistant bacteria through screening of 30 antibiotics, and the blood agar plate culture uncovered six pathogenic fungal species. Numerous phage and six dangerous viral sequences were also found. These results should substantiate our concern about the potential risk of banknotes to human health.
由于纸币与人频繁接触，长期以来人们一直怀疑其在生物学上是“脏的”，这可能会传播人类微生物病原体。然而，纸币上的微生物是否对人类健康构成真正威胁仍是一个未解决的问题。在之前的几项研究中，宏基因组测序被用于揭示纸币上微生物的多样性，但缺乏活微生物培养和功能验证。在本研究中，我们收集了中国的人民币纸币以及美国的美元纸币，并通过宏基因组测序和体外培养方法分析了已鉴定微生物携带的微生物生物多样性和耐药基因。通过对30种抗生素的筛选，我们鉴定出了8个主要的耐药细菌属，血琼脂平板培养发现了6种致病真菌物种。还发现了大量噬菌体和6个危险的病毒序列。这些结果应能证实我们对纸币对人类健康潜在风险的担忧。
