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

Abstract

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.

Authors:
 [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)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1215418
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Scientific Reports
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 5; Journal Issue: 10; Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
42 ENGINEERING; air microbiology; ecosystem ecology

Citation Formats

Moissl-Eichinger, Christine, Auerbach, Anna K., Probst, Alexander J., Mahnert, Alexander, Tom, Lauren, Piceno, Yvette, Andersen, Gary L., Venkateswaran, Kasthuri, Rettberg, Petra, Barczyk, Simon, Pukall, Rüdiger, and Berg, Gabriele. Quo vadis? Microbial profiling revealed strong effects of cleanroom maintenance and routes of contamination in indoor environments. United States: N. p., 2015. Web. doi:10.1038/srep09156.
Moissl-Eichinger, Christine, Auerbach, Anna K., Probst, Alexander J., Mahnert, Alexander, Tom, Lauren, Piceno, Yvette, Andersen, Gary L., Venkateswaran, Kasthuri, Rettberg, Petra, Barczyk, Simon, Pukall, Rüdiger, & Berg, Gabriele. Quo vadis? Microbial profiling revealed strong effects of cleanroom maintenance and routes of contamination in indoor environments. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep09156
Moissl-Eichinger, Christine, Auerbach, Anna K., Probst, Alexander J., Mahnert, Alexander, Tom, Lauren, Piceno, Yvette, Andersen, Gary L., Venkateswaran, Kasthuri, Rettberg, Petra, Barczyk, Simon, Pukall, Rüdiger, and Berg, Gabriele. 2015. "Quo vadis? Microbial profiling revealed strong effects of cleanroom maintenance and routes of contamination in indoor environments". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep09156. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1215418.
@article{osti_1215418,
title = {Quo vadis? Microbial profiling revealed strong effects of cleanroom maintenance and routes of contamination in indoor environments},
author = {Moissl-Eichinger, Christine and Auerbach, Anna K. and Probst, Alexander J. and Mahnert, Alexander and Tom, Lauren and Piceno, Yvette and Andersen, Gary L. and Venkateswaran, Kasthuri and Rettberg, Petra and Barczyk, Simon and Pukall, Rüdiger and Berg, Gabriele},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.1038/srep09156},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1215418}, journal = {Scientific Reports},
issn = {2045-2322},
number = 10,
volume = 5,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Mar 17 00:00:00 EDT 2015},
month = {Tue Mar 17 00:00:00 EDT 2015}
}

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Cited by: 28 works
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Works referencing / citing this record:

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