Environmental drivers of the seasonal exposure to airborne Alternaria spores in Spain

Antonio Picornell; Jesús Rojo; M Mar Trigo; Rocío Ruiz-Mata; Beatriz Lara; Jorge Romero-Morte; Alicia Serrano-García; Rosa Pérez-Badia; Montserrat Gutiérrez-Bustillo; Patricia Cervigón-Morales; Zuzana Ferencova; Julia Morales-González; Estefanía Sánchez-Reyes; Sergio Fuentes-Antón; José Sánchez-Sánchez; Ignacio Dávila; Jose Oteros; Moisés Martínez-Bracero; Carmen Galán; Herminia García-Mozo; Purificación Alcázar; Santiago Fernández; Mónica González-Alonso; Estrella Robles; Anabel Pérez de Zabalza; Arturo H Ariño; Marta Recio

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153596

Environmental drivers of the seasonal exposure to airborne Alternaria spores in Spain

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jun 1:823:153596. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153596. Epub 2022 Feb 2.

Authors

Antonio Picornell¹, Jesús Rojo², M Mar Trigo³, Rocío Ruiz-Mata³, Beatriz Lara⁴, Jorge Romero-Morte⁴, Alicia Serrano-García⁴, Rosa Pérez-Badia⁴, Montserrat Gutiérrez-Bustillo⁵, Patricia Cervigón-Morales⁵, Zuzana Ferencova⁵, Julia Morales-González⁶, Estefanía Sánchez-Reyes⁷, Sergio Fuentes-Antón⁸, José Sánchez-Sánchez⁷, Ignacio Dávila⁹, Jose Oteros¹⁰, Moisés Martínez-Bracero¹¹, Carmen Galán¹⁰, Herminia García-Mozo¹⁰, Purificación Alcázar¹⁰, Santiago Fernández¹², Mónica González-Alonso¹³, Estrella Robles¹³, Anabel Pérez de Zabalza¹³, Arturo H Ariño¹³, Marta Recio³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, University of Malaga, Campus de Teatinos s/n, E-29071, Malaga, Spain. Electronic address: picornell@uma.es.
² Department of Pharmacology, Pharmacognosy and Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain; University of Castilla-La Mancha, Institute of Environmental Sciences (Botany), Toledo, Spain.
³ Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, University of Malaga, Campus de Teatinos s/n, E-29071, Malaga, Spain.
⁴ University of Castilla-La Mancha, Institute of Environmental Sciences (Botany), Toledo, Spain.
⁵ Department of Pharmacology, Pharmacognosy and Botany, Faculty of Pharmacy, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
⁶ Department of Vegetal Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Seville, Seville, Spain.
⁷ Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Salamanca, Licenciado Méndez Nieto s/n, 37007, Salamanca, Spain; Institute for Agribiotechnology Research (CIALE), Universidad de Salamanca, Río Duero 12, 37185 Villamayor, Salamanca, Spain.
⁸ Department of Mathematics and Science Education, Universidad de Salamanca, Paseo de Canalejas 169, 37008, Salamanca, Spain.
⁹ Department of Biomedical and Diagnostic Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad de Salamanca, Alfonso X El Sabio s/n, 37007, Salamanca, Spain; Servicio de Alergia, Hospital Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.
¹⁰ Department of Botany, Ecology and Plant Physiology, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence CeiA3, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain; Andalusian Inter-University Institute for Earth System IISTA, University of Cordoba, Spain.
¹¹ Department of Botany, Ecology and Plant Physiology, Agrifood Campus of International Excellence CeiA3, University of Cordoba, Cordoba, Spain; Andalusian Inter-University Institute for Earth System IISTA, University of Cordoba, Spain; School of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Technological University Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
¹² Department of Construction, Polythecnic School, University of Extremadura, Extremadura, Spain.
¹³ Department of Environmental Biology, University of Navarra, Navarra, Spain.

PMID: 35122844
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153596

Abstract

Alternaria conidia have high allergenic potential and they can trigger important respiratory diseases. Due to that and to their extensive detection period, airborne Alternaria spores are considered as a relevant airborne allergenic particle. Several studies have been developed in order to predict the human exposure to this aeroallergen and to prevent their negative effects on sensitive population. These studies revealed that some sampling locations usually have just one single Alternaria spore season while other locations generally have two seasons within the same year. However, the reasons of these two different seasonal patterns remain unclear. To understand them better, the present study was carried out in order to determine if there are any weather conditions that influence these different behaviours at different sampling locations. With this purpose, the airborne Alternaria spore concentrations of 18 sampling locations in a wide range of latitudinal, altitudinal and climate ranges of Spain were studied. The aerobiological samples were obtained by means of Hirst-Type volumetric pollen traps, and the seasonality of the airborne Alternaria spores were analysed. The optimal weather conditions for spore production were studied, and the main weather factor affecting Alternaria spore seasonality were analysed by means of random forests and regression trees. The results showed that the temperature was the most relevant variable for the Alternaria spore dispersion and it influenced both the spore integrals and their seasonality. The water availability was also a very significant variable. Warmer sampling locations generally have a longer period of Alternaria spore detection. However, the spore production declines during the summer when the temperatures are extremely warm, what splits the favourable period for Alternaria spore production and dispersion into two separate ones, detected as two Alternaria spore seasons within the same year.

Keywords: Aerobiology; Allergy; Fungal spores; Seasonality; Weather conditions.

MeSH terms

Air Microbiology*
Allergens / analysis
Alternaria*
Environmental Monitoring
Humans
Seasons
Spain
Spores, Fungal

Substances

Allergens