Characterization of Fungal Communities on Shared Bicycles in Southwest China

Background: The aggressive Covid-19 has raised the demand and sanitary requirements for shared-bicycles. Previous studies have shown potentially pathogenic bacteria on the surfaces of shared-bicycles, but the fungal communities of them have not been investigated. Methods: We sampled shared-bicycles handles and saddles from five selected locations in a metropolis (Chengdu, China), meanwhile, the surrounding air deposition samples as controls. The full-length ITS sequencing technology and multiple bioinformatic analyses were utilized to reveal their fungal community structure and differences. Results: Aspergillus dominates on both handles and saddles of shared-bicycle, Alternaria and Cladosporium are the top abundance families of air. Compared with air samples, shared-bicycle surface has greater fungal richness and diversity, although not statistically significant. Significant differences of fungal community structure have been found between the three groups. Handles have more Aureobasidium melanogenum and Filobasidium magnum than saddle and air groups. Saddles have higher abundance of Cladosporium tenuissimum than other two groups (P<0·05). Higher occurrence of fungal Animal Pathogen on shared-bicycles surface than air, and more Endophyte-Plant Pathogen on saddles than handles have been proved by FunGuild (P<0·05). Moreover, co-occurrence networks of fungi on handles are more stable than saddles. Conclusions: Combined with the results and review of previous literatures, we have found that more potential pathogens are clustered on shared-bicycles, including Aspergillus pseudoglaucus, Azachstania pintolopesii, Candida Tropicalis, and Malassezia globose. Therefore, we suggest that mucous membrane should be protect from hands after cycling, especially susceptible individuals, and hygiene management of shared-bicycles should be pay more attention by worldwide related organization. Funding Information: National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 81771783) and Sichuan Science and Technology Program (No. 2019JDTD0027). Declaration of Interests: The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.