Garden soil bacteria transiently colonize gardeners' skin after direct soil contact

Urban soils provide a number of ecosystem services and health benefits, yet they are understudied compared with agricultural wildland soils. Healthy host diverse microbiota, exposure to which may be critical for immune development protection against chronic disorders, such as allergies asthma. Gardening represents key pathway microbiota exposure, little is known about microbial community structure urban garden soils, degree soil-to-skin transfer during gardening, nor ability soil microbes persist on human skin. To explore these questions, we recruited 40 volunteers collect samples from their gardens series skin swab before after gardening. Soil bacterial communities were characterized using amplicon (16S) sequencing. also analyzed chemical/physical characteristics. had more alpha diversity less beta than communities, varied greatly across individuals within the same individual time. The taxa shared between increased immediately gardening most study participants. However, imprint largely disappeared 12 hours. Despite this lack persistence, daily routine repeated extended contact likely reinoculates that often present, holding potential impact health.