The Airborne Metagenome in an Indoor Urban Environment

Journal Article · Tue Feb 12 00:00:00 EST 2008 · PLoS ONE

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0001862· OSTI ID:962660

Tringe, Susannah; Zhang, Tao; Liu, Xuguo; Yu, Yiting; Lee, Wah Heng; Yap, Jennifer; Yao, Fei; Suan, Sim Tiow; Ing, Seah Keng; Haynes, Matthew; Rohwer, Forest; Wei, Chia Lin; Tan, Patrick; Bristow, James; Rubin, Edward M; Ruan, Yijun

The indoor atmosphere is an ecological unit that impacts on public health. To investigate the composition of organisms in this space, we applied culture-independent approaches to microbes harvested from the air of two densely populated urban buildings, from which we analyzed 80 megabases genomic DNA sequence and 6000 16S rDNA clones. The air microbiota is primarily bacteria, including potential opportunistic pathogens commonly isolated from human-inhabited environments such as hospitals, but none of the data contain matches to virulent pathogens or bioterror agents. Comparison of air samples with each other and nearby environments suggested that the indoor air microbes are not random transients from surrounding outdoor environments, but rather originate from indoor niches. Sequence annotation by gene function revealed specific adaptive capabilities enriched in the air environment, including genes potentially involved in resistance to desiccation and oxidative damage. This baseline index of air microbiota will be valuable for improving designs of surveillance for natural or man-made release of virulent pathogens.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: Genomics Division
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC02-05CH11231
• OSTI ID: 962660
• Report Number(s): LBNL-2018E; TRN: US200916%%306
• Journal Information: PLoS ONE, Journal Name: PLoS ONE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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AIR
BACTERIA
DNA
GENES
HOSPITALS
INDOORS
OUTDOORS
PATHOGENS
PUBLIC HEALTH
TRANSIENTS
Air
Air Microbiology
Air Pollutants Air Pollution
Indoor
Algorithms
Contig Mapping
Environmental Monitoring/methods
Genome
Genome
Bacterial
Humans
Open Reading Frames
particulate Matter
Phylogeny
Sequence Analysis
DNA
Ventilation