181 / 2023-05-11 20:21:04

Characterization of airborne fungal communities in residences and outdoor environment in Nanjing, a Chinese city located in hot summer and cold winter climate zone

Fungal community,Residence,Outdoor,ITS sequencing

Based on the Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS) sequencing method, this study characterized the fungal communities from 30 residences and outdoor environments in Nanjing, China. Results indicated that the indoor fungal community was largely shaped by the outdoor fungal community during the same season, especially in winter. Significant variations of fungal community structure and composition were observed between seasons. The common predominant Ascomycota phylum accounted for over 60% of the total identified fungal taxa during summer and winter. With respect to class level, Sordariomycetes class (26.8% indoors and 30.5% outdoors) and Saccharomycetes class (13.4% indoors and 12.1% outdoors) dominated in summer, while Sordariomycetes class (33.4% in indoor and 35.0% in outdoor) and Dothideomycetes class (18.3% in indoor and 19.8% in outdoor) dominated in winter. The relative abundance of allergic fungi showed no significant difference between indoors and outdoors, with Candida and Curvularia being the major allergic fungi in summer and winter, respectively. The OTUs and Chao1 suggested that outdoor fungal communities had greater richness than indoor ones in summer, whereas in winter. The diversity estimated by Shannon showed no significant difference between indoor and outdoor fungi. This study provides baseline information on household fungi in hot summer and cold winter climate zone.