Features of the microbiome of burial soils

Introduction. On the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as worldwide, a large amount of space is allocated for burials. The soils found in the burial areas have their own characteristics. In the scientific literature there is a few works devoted to the problem of hygienic assessment of cemeteries from the point of view of their impact on the environment, as well as on the population living next to necrosols or working on them. Depending on the chemical and biological effects, the microbial composition of the soil changes. This process is influenced by many factors, including humidity, the initial content of organic and mineral substances, level of acidity, structure of the soil and peculiarities of the course of intra-soil gas-phase reactions. The key participants in the decomposition of organic material are bacteria and fungi, the diversity and dynamics of which directly depend on the degree of soil contamination with pollutants.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the microbiota of cemetery soil in its various layers.

Materials and methods. The cemeteries of Moscow (NikoloKhovanskoye, Nikolo-Arkhangelskoye, Perepechenskoye), Moscow (Mytishchenskoye, Domodedovo), Tula (Municipal Cemetery No. 1 of the Municipal State Enterprise of the Municipal Formation of the City of Tula Combine of Specialized Services), Kursk (old city cemetery Kurchatov), Krasnoyarsk (Zheleznogorsk) regions and Altai (Yarovoye) Krais were selected as research objects for assessing the microbiome of soils.

Results. The most common bacterial pathogens were found to be Enterococcus spp. (81%), Bacillus spp. (75%) and E. coli (45.1%). Mushrooms of Penicillium spp.. were isolated from 61% of the samples. The revealed microbiota profiles of the samples of the studied cemetery soils reflect the microbial composition of humans, which allows substantiating the main methods and algorithm for identifying decomposition processes depending on the time frame of burials.

Limitations. The limitation of the study is due to the risk of contact with cemetery soil was not assessed, since not all genera of isolated microorganisms could be identified by their biochemical properties.

Conclusion. Studies conducted in cemetery areas have shown how diverse the soil microbiome is in burial sites and varies depending on the depth of sampling. The microbiota profiles of cemetery soil samples identified during the study reflect the lifetime microbial composition of the human body, which makes it possible to substantiate approaches to identifying decomposition processes depending on the time frame of burials.

Compliance with ethical standards. The approval of the local ethics committee is not required for this study.

Contribution:
Ushakova O.V. — the concept and design of the study, writing the text, collecting material and processing data, editing, approving the final version of the article;
Rakhmanin Yu.A. — the concept and design of the study, editing, approving the final version of the article;
Evseeva I.S. — collecting material and processing data.
All authors are responsible for the integrity of all parts of the manuscript and approval of the manuscript final version

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgement. Acknowledgment. The research was carried out within the framework of the state task on the topic “Monitoring” at the Center for Strategic Planning and Management of Biomedical Health Risks of the FMBA of Russia.

Received: April 19, 2024 / Revised: June 3, 2024 / Accepted: June 19, 2024 / Published: October 16, 2024