Urban soils amplify and homogenize bacterial zoonotic pathogens across multiple Chinese cities

Urbanisation is rapidly reshaping global landscapes, yet its impact on zoonotic pathogens in soil remains poorly understood. Here we investigated potential bacterial zoonotic pathogen distribution and diversity across four land use types (forests, farmlands, urban parks, and urban residential areas) in 13 Chinese cities. We analysed soils using 16S rRNA sequencing (short-read for community analysis; full-length for species-level identification) to characterise the composition and diversity of pathogens. We found that urban soils consistently harboured higher relative abundances and greater diversity of these pathogens compared to peri-urban soils, with communities showing increased homogenisation across cities. Gammaproteobacteria were dominant, and species such as Klebsiella pneumoniae showed notable enrichment in urban soils. The amplification and homogenisation of pathogens suggest cities as potential emerging hotspots for bacterial zoonotic pathogens. As global urbanisation accelerates, understanding the dynamics of zoonotic pathogens in cities will be crucial for developing healthy urban environments within a One Health framework. (Figure presented.)