Got Fungus?

By: Andrea G. Gloria

Fungal Species Accumulation Curves. Average fungal OTU richness for two seasons (summer and winter), three wood types (pine, spruce and mix of pine and spruce) (a), 11 different sawmills, and five departments: maintenance (M), planing (P), saw (S), sorting of green timber (SGT) and sorting of dry timber (SDT) (c). Figure taken from Straumfors et al., 2019.

Although it is known that fungal exposure is linked to respiratory symptoms and allergic alveolitis among sawmill workers, there is limited research on the characterization and diversity of the fungi (Straumfors et al., 2019). In order to gain a better understanding of exposure-response relationships, Straumfors and colleagues utilized metabarcoding of fungal DNA from air samples obtained from 11 workers from Norwegian sawmills, sorting and planer mills. This allowed the researchers to study differences in richness, diversity and taxonomic composition of the fungi between various companies, departments, wood types, and seasons. As seen in the figure, workers were exposed to a higher amount of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in the summer and when processing spruce (a). Fungal exposure also varied amongst departments, with workers in the saw department being the highest (c). This study shows that fungal inhalable exposure may vary between season, wood type, companies and departments. The evidence may suggest that exposure-related health effects may also be different. Further research may expand the knowledge of species pathogenic to humans and allow more accurate risk assessments for workers. 

Original Article: Straumfors A, Foss OAH, Fuss J, Mollerup SK, Kauserud H, Mundra S. 2019. The inhalable mycobiome of sawmill workers: exposure characterization and diversity. Appl Environ Microbiol 85:e01448-19. https://doi .org/10.1128/AEM.01448-19.