Abstract
Microorganisms are ubiquitous in the environment, and the atmosphere is no exception. However, airborne bacterial communities are some of the least studied. Increasing our knowledge about these communities and how environmental factors shape them is key to understanding disease outbreaks and transmission routes. We describe airborne bacterial communities at two different sites in Tenerife, La Laguna (urban, 600 m.a.s.l.) and Izaña (high mountain, 2,400 m.a.s.l.), and how they change throughout the year. Illumina MiSeq sequencing was used to target 16S rRNA genes in 293 samples. Results indicated a predominance of Proteobacteria at both sites (>65%), followed by Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, and Firmicutes. Gammaproteobacteria were the most frequent within the Proteobacteria phylum during spring and winter, while Alphaproteobacteria dominated in the fall and summer. Within the 519 genera identified, Cellvibrio was the most frequent during spring (35.75%) and winter (30.73%); Limnobacter (24.49%) and Blastomonas (19.88%) dominated in the summer; and Sediminibacterium represented 10.26 and 12.41% of fall and winter samples, respectively. Sphingomonas was also identified in 17.15% of the fall samples. These five genera were more abundant at the high mountain site, while other common airborne bacteria were more frequent at the urban site (Kocuria, Delftia, Mesorhizobium, and Methylobacterium). Diversity values showed different patterns for both sites, with higher values during the cooler seasons in Izaña, whereas the opposite was observed in La Laguna. Regarding wind back trajectories, Tropical air masses were significantly different from African ones at both sites, showing the highest diversity and characterized by genera regularly associated with humans (Pseudomonas, Sphingomonas, and Cloacibacterium), as well as others related to extreme conditions (Alicyclobacillus) or typically associated with animals (Lachnospiraceae). Marine and African air masses were consistent and very similar in their microbial composition. By contrast, European trajectories were dominated by Cellvibrio, Pseudomonas, Pseudoxanthomonas, and Sediminibacterium. These data contribute to our current state of knowledge in the field of atmospheric microbiology. However, future studies are needed to increase our understanding of the influence of different environmental factors on atmospheric microbial dispersion and the potential impact of airborne microorganisms on ecosystems and public health.
Highlights
The atmosphere is a dynamic and diverse environment that contains abiotic and biological components (Westrich et al, 2016)
The description of the airborne bacterial community in two different areas has been achieved for the first time in the Canary Islands, showing great diversity, especially at the high mountain site
Others have reported a strong correlation between airborne bacteria and aerosol source (Cáliz et al, 2018)
Summary
The atmosphere is a dynamic and diverse environment that contains abiotic (chemical elements, compounds of anthropogenic origin, and sand, etc.) and biological components (microorganisms, pollens, seeds, microscopic animals, and algae, etc.) (Westrich et al, 2016). This environment is dynamic, because its composition can change rapidly due to many different factors: wind, storms, rain, geographic features, and location, etc. The number of microorganisms that may be transported over long distances is diverse and can range from 104 to 108 cells per m3 (Bowers et al, 2011) Among them, both animal and plant pathogens may be present, making the atmosphere a potential source of disease (Griffin, 2007; GonzalezMartin et al, 2014; Schmale and Ross, 2015)
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