RESEARCH ARTICLE

Air particles from 31 Chinese cities induced differential cellular responses

¹ State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
² Institute of Environment & Health, Inner Mongolia Normal University, Hohhot 010022, China

^* Corresponding author (email: yao@pku.edu.cn)
^† Present address: Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA

Received: 7 October 2024
Revised: 13 February 2025
Accepted: 28 May 2025

Abstract

Current understanding of ambient particulate matter (PM) health effects is restricted by their sources, time periods, and component differences. Here, an eukaryote model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae was used to study the differing cell level responses when exposed to 465 air samples collected from 31 Chinese cities across major latitudes. Results from cell-released volatile organic compounds (VOCs), transcriptome, and proteome showed large variations in responses of the cells with the exposure. Gene and protein expression of S. cerevisiae with 3 h PM exposure were mainly enriched in varying metabolism pathways. The genes significantly associated with VOCs are mostly enriched in six major KEGG groups, including cellular processes, genetic information processing, human diseases, metabolism, and organismal systems. Different PM components, including microbial, metal elements and organic compounds, are important players in the differences. This work also revealed the potential VOCs biomarkers for real-time monitoring of PM-induced health effects in vivo.