Temperate grass allergy season defined by spatio-temporal shifts in airborne pollen communities

Abstract

Grass pollen is the worlds most harmful outdoor aeroallergen and sensitivity varies between species. Different species of grass flower at different times, but it is not known how airborne communities of grass pollen change in time and space. Persistence and high mobility of grass pollen could result in increasingly diverse seasonal pollen communities. Conversely, if grass pollen does not persist for an extended time in the air, shifting pollen communities would be predicted throughout the summer months. Here, using targeted high throughput sequencing, we tracked the seasonal progression of airborne Poaceae pollen biodiversity across Britain, throughout the grass allergy season. All grass genera displayed discrete, temporally restricted peaks of pollen incidence which varied with latitude, revealing that the taxonomic composition of grass pollen exposure changes substantially across the allergy season. By developing more refined aeroallergen profiling, we predict that our findings will facilitate the exploration of links between taxon-specific exposure of harmful grass pollen and disease, with concomitant socio-economic benefits.