Soil microbial diversity associates with lower prevalence of human bacterial pathogens across global soils

 Highlights

• A global atlas and biogeography of human bacterial pathogens in soils are reported

• Dominant human bacterial pathogens are more abundant in wet ecosystems worldwide

• Soil biodiversity is negatively associated with the prevalence of human pathogens

• Many dominant pathogens are likely to increase their proportion in future climates

Summary

Soil-inhabiting pathogens threaten human health, but their biogeography and associations with soil biodiversity remain poorly understood. Here, we present global patterns of dominant human bacterial pathogens by integrating 1,602 soil metagenomes from 59 countries across continents. We show that dominant human pathogens are more prevalent (i.e., relative abundance) in wet (tropical and temperate) ecosystems and are particularly abundant in cropland soils. We find a global negative association between soil microbiome diversity and pathogen prevalence. We further reveal a significant and positive correlation between the abundance of dominant human pathogens and both disease virulence and global patterns of mortality associated with infectious diseases. Many dominant pathogens are likely to increase their proportion under global change scenarios. Our work provides a global atlas of dominant soil-inhabiting human pathogens and reveals their biogeography and ecology. These findings can guide the development of effective surveillance and risk management strategies to reduce outbreaks and pandemics.

Read full article at:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1931312826001198