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Title: Quo vadis? Microbial profiling revealed strong effects of cleanroom maintenance and routes of contamination in indoor environments

Journal Article · · Scientific Reports
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep09156· OSTI ID:1215418
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [6];  [7];  [3]
  1. Univ. of Regensburg, Regensburg (Germany); Medical Univ. Graz, Graz (Austria); BioTechMed Graz, Graz (Austria)
  2. Univ. of Regensburg, Regensburg (Germany)
  3. Graz Univ. of Technology, Graz (Austria)
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  5. Jet Propulsion Lab., Pasadena, CA (United States)
  6. Institute of Aerospace Medicine and Radiation Biology, Koln (Germany)
  7. Leibniz Institute DSMZ - Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH, Braunschweig (Germany)

Space agencies maintain highly controlled cleanrooms to ensure the demands of planetary protection. To study potential effects of microbiome control, we analyzed microbial communities in two particulate-controlled cleanrooms (ISO 5 and ISO 8) and two vicinal uncontrolled areas (office, changing room) by cultivation and 16S rRNA gene amplicon analysis (cloning, pyrotagsequencing, and PhyloChip G3 analysis). Maintenance procedures affected the microbiome on total abundance and microbial community structure concerning richness, diversity and relative abundance of certain taxa. Cleanroom areas were found to be mainly predominated by potentially human-associated bacteria; archaeal signatures were detected in every area. Results indicate that microorganisms were mainly spread from the changing room (68%) into the cleanrooms, potentially carried along with human activity. The numbers of colony forming units were reduced by up to ~400 fold from the uncontrolled areas towards the ISO 5 cleanroom, accompanied with a reduction of the living portion of microorganisms from 45% (changing area) to 1% of total 16S rRNA gene signatures as revealed via propidium monoazide treatment of the samples. Our results demonstrate the strong effects of cleanroom maintenance on microbial communities in indoor environments and can be used to improve the design and operation of biologically controlled cleanrooms.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1215418
Journal Information:
Scientific Reports, Vol. 5, Issue 10; ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 28 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (11)

Functional Metagenomics of Spacecraft Assembly Cleanrooms: Presence of Virulence Factors Associated with Human Pathogens journal September 2016
The matter of the reproductive microbiome journal May 2018
Microbial succession in an inflated lunar/Mars analog habitat during a 30-day human occupation journal June 2016
Microbial biodiversity assessment of the European Space Agency’s ExoMars 2016 mission journal October 2017
Endophytes-assisted biocontrol: novel insights in ecology and the mode of action of Paenibacillus journal June 2015
Characterization of Staphylococcus epidermidis strains isolated from industrial cleanrooms under regular routine disinfection journal March 2017
Microbiome interplay: plants alter microbial abundance and diversity within the built environment journal August 2015
Microorganisms in Confined Habitats: Microbial Monitoring and Control of Intensive Care Units, Operating Rooms, Cleanrooms and the International Space Station journal October 2016
Advanced Curation of Astromaterials for Planetary Science journal November 2019
Biological Contamination Prevention for Outer Solar System Moons of Astrobiological Interest: What Do We Need to Know? journal August 2019
Bacillus safensis FO-36b and Bacillus pumilus SAFR-032: a whole genome comparison of two spacecraft assembly facility isolates journal June 2018

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