Lessons learned from COVID-19 on potentially pathogenic soil microorganisms

Qian, Haifeng; Zhang, Qi; Lu, Tao; Peijnenburg, Willie J.G.M.; Peñuelas, Josep; Zhu, Yong‐Guan

doi:10.1007/s42832-020-0068-9

Cited by 17 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Copper sulfate, for instance, negatively affects the aquatic microbiomes with the capability of degrading organic substances and other microbial ecosystem services, although it can rapidly control cyanobacterial blooms. 14 Diuron decreased the resilience of microbial communities and delayed the recovery of efficient microbial food webs. 43 This was similar to our findings of diuron exhibiting a greater disruption on both the prokaryotic and the eukaryotic community, lasting up to 14 days.…”

Section: ■ Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a Potentially New Algaecide for Controlling Harmful Cyanobacteria Blooms Which is Ecologically Safe and Selective

Feng

Huang

et al. 2022

J. Agric. Food Chem.

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Harmful cyanobacterial blooms (HCBs) caused by Microcystis aeruginosa are of great concern as they negatively affect the aquatic environment and human health. Chemical methods could rapidly eradicate HCBs and have been used for many decades. However, many chemical reagents are not recommended to eliminate HCBs in the long term, given the possible destructive and toxic effects of the chemicals employed on non-target aquatic organisms. We developed a new algaecide, 2-((1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl)thio)-N-(4-chlorophenyl) acetamide (Q2), to control harmful cyanobacteria while being environmentally friendly and selective. In our study, Q2 effectively inhibited cyanobacterial growth, especially of M. aeruginosa, but did not affect eukaryotic algae in test concentrations. A critical mechanism was revealed by transcriptome and metagenomic results showing that Q2 affects multiple cellular targets of cyanobacteria for HCB control, including the destruction of organelles, damage in the photosynthesis center, as well as inhibition of gas vesicle growth, and these changes can be highly relevant to the decrease of quorum-sensing functional KEGG pathways. Furthermore, Q2 did not affect the microbial composition and could recover the disrupted aquatic functional pathways in a short period. This is different from the impact on ecosystem functioning of the traditionally used harmful algaecide diuron. All these results verified that Q2 could be friendly to the aquatic environment, providing a new directional choice in managing HCBs in the future.

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Section: ■ Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a Potentially New Algaecide for Controlling Harmful Cyanobacteria Blooms Which is Ecologically Safe and Selective

Feng

Huang

et al. 2022

J. Agric. Food Chem.

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“…As common natural phenomena, a number of viruses are able to transfer between animals, plants, humans, and environmental compartments such as water or soil. It is important that we understand these dynamics, and the frequency of disease epidemics and pandemics has been increasing (19). The COVID-19 pandemic affected virtually all our life spheres, including the health, education, economic, political, and agricultural sectors.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The relationship between soils, human health, and the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is very complicated and interesting (18,19). Soil is a major host and transmission pathway for several pathogenic microbes (18,20) because it is one of the most diverse and dense microbial habitats on our planet (21,22).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Soils, Biofortification, and Human Health Under COVID-19: Challenges and Opportunities

et al. 2021

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Soil is an important source of resources required for human health and well-being. Soil is also a major environmental reservoir of pathogenic organisms. This may include viruses like the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), which through 2020 and 2021 created dramatic catastrophes worldwide as the causative agent of the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19). So, soil has both positive and negative impacts on human health. One of the major positive impacts is the transfer of nutrients from soil to plants, and from there to humans through their diet. Biofortification is able to enhance the levels of nutrients essential to human health in the crops we consume and represents a sustainable solution to address malnutrition, which in turn may strengthen the human immune system against COVID-19. This nutrient transfer works better when we have healthy soils. Therefore, soils and biofortification have important roles to play in combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. However, several questions still remain, such as what are the expected environmental impacts of COVID-19 on soil? Can SARS-CoV-2 be transmitted through soil, and under what conditions? Which soil processes and properties influence SARS-CoV-2 survival rates and times, as well as transmission? What are the specific links between soil health and COVID-19? What are the projected soil management scenarios in response to COVID-19? Questions such as these deserve more attention as the world seeks to recover from its most recent pandemic.

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“…Soil microorganisms, especially those colonizing the plant rhizosphere, play an important role in growth yield and disease-resistance of plant (Lu et al, 2018;Qu et al, 2020;Feng et al, 2021), but most soil ecotoxicology experiments have usually focused on big-size model organisms for study but have ignored the soil microbial ecology. The indiscriminate spraying of a large amounts of chlorine-containing disinfectants can directly destroy the community balance and functional diversity of soil microbiome, which may further perturb the health of plants and result in invasion by pathogenic bacteria (Mendes et al, 2013;Qian et al, 2021). Previous studies on the effects of chlorination in irrigation water on plants and epiphytic microorganisms provided a research basis for the risk assessment of chlorine-containing disinfectants residual on the soil environment (Lonigro et al, 2017;Truchado et al, 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of residual chlorine in soil microbial community using metagenomics

Zhang

et al. 2022

Soil Ecol. Lett.

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Chlorine-containing disinfectants have been widely used around the world for the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, at present, little is known about the impact of residual chlorine on the soil micro-ecological environment. Herein, we treated an experimental soil-plant-microbiome microcosm system by continuous irrigation with a low concentration of chlorine-containing water, and then analyzed the influence on the soil microbial community using metagenomics. After 14-d continuous chlorine treatment, there were no significant lasting effect on soil microbial community diversity and composition either in the rhizosphere or in bulk soil. Although metabolic functions of the rhizosphere microbial community were affected slightly by continuous chlorine treatment, it recovered to the original status. The abundance of several resistance genes changed by 7 d and recovered by 14 d. According to our results, the chlorine residue resulting from daily disinfection may present a slight long-term effect on plant growth (shoot length and fresh weight) and soil micro-ecology. In general, our study assisted with environmental risk assessments relating to the application ofchlorine-containing disinfectants and minimization of risks to the environment during disease control, such as COVID-19. Electronic supplementary material Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at 10.1007/s42832-022-0130-x and is accessible for authorized users.

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Lessons learned from COVID-19 on potentially pathogenic soil microorganisms

Cited by 17 publications

References 34 publications

Development of a Potentially New Algaecide for Controlling Harmful Cyanobacteria Blooms Which is Ecologically Safe and Selective

Development of a Potentially New Algaecide for Controlling Harmful Cyanobacteria Blooms Which is Ecologically Safe and Selective

Soils, Biofortification, and Human Health Under COVID-19: Challenges and Opportunities

Assessment of residual chlorine in soil microbial community using metagenomics

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