Effects of Medicinal Plants on Fungal Community Structure and Function in Hospital Grassplot Soil.

ABSTRACT

Hospital grassplot soil is an important repository of pathogenic fungi exposed to the hospital environment, and the diffusion of these fungi-containing soil particles in the air increases the risk of nosocomial fungal infections. In this study, from the perspective of soil microbes-plant holobiont, four medicinal plants Mirabilis jalapa, Artemisia argyi, Viola philippica, and Plantago depressa were used as materials, based on ITS high-throughput amplicon sequencing and simulated pot experiments to explore the effect of medicinal plants on the fungal community in hospital grassplot soil, in order to provide a new exploration for hospital grassplot soil remediation. The results showed that the fungal community ecological guilds in primary test soil was mainly pathogen, and the abundance of animal pathogen with potential threats to human reached 61.36%. After planting medicinal plants, the composition and function of soil fungal community changed significantly. Although this change varied with plant species and growth stages, all samples collected in the pot experiment showed that the pathogen abundance decreased and the saprotroph abundance increased. In addition, 45 of the 46 core fungal genera defined in all potted samples were present in primary test soil, and many of them were human potential pathogens. These findings imply that the idea of enhancing soil quality in hospital grassplot soil by planting specific plants is feasible. However, the initial fungal community of the hospital grassplot soil has a certain stability, and it is difficult to completely eliminate the threat of pathogenic fungi by planting medicinal plants.