Abstract
BackgroundArchitectural design has the potential to influence the microbiology of the built environment, with implications for human health and well-being, but the impact of design on the microbial biogeography of buildings remains poorly understood. In this study we combined microbiological data with information on the function, form, and organization of spaces from a classroom and office building to understand how design choices influence the biogeography of the built environment microbiome.ResultsSequencing of the bacterial 16S gene from dust samples revealed that indoor bacterial communities were extremely diverse, containing more than 32,750 OTUs (operational taxonomic units, 97% sequence similarity cutoff), but most communities were dominated by Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Deinococci. Architectural design characteristics related to space type, building arrangement, human use and movement, and ventilation source had a large influence on the structure of bacterial communities. Restrooms contained bacterial communities that were highly distinct from all other rooms, and spaces with high human occupant diversity and a high degree of connectedness to other spaces via ventilation or human movement contained a distinct set of bacterial taxa when compared to spaces with low occupant diversity and low connectedness. Within offices, the source of ventilation air had the greatest effect on bacterial community structure.ConclusionsOur study indicates that humans have a guiding impact on the microbial biodiversity in buildings, both indirectly through the effects of architectural design on microbial community structure, and more directly through the effects of human occupancy and use patterns on the microbes found in different spaces and space types. The impact of design decisions in structuring the indoor microbiome offers the possibility to use ecological knowledge to shape our buildings in a way that will select for an indoor microbiome that promotes our health and well-being.
Highlights
Biologists and designers are beginning to collaborate in a new field focused on the microbiology of the built environment [1,2]
From a study design perspective, diverse space types, occupancy levels, and building management strategies were located in close proximity within the same building, making it possible to compare their relative influences on indoor biogeography
There were 58 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) belonging to these taxonomic groups that were present in 95% or more of all samples we collected
Summary
Biologists and designers are beginning to collaborate in a new field focused on the microbiology of the built environment [1,2] These collaborations, which integrate perspectives from ecology and evolution, architecture, engineering and building science, are driven by a number of interrelated observations. Evidence is growing that the microbes living in and on people, the human microbiome, play a critical role in human health and well-being [7,8,9]. Together, these observations suggest that it may be possible to influence the human microbiome and human health, by modifying the built environment microbiome through architectural design. In this study we combined microbiological data with information on the function, form, and organization of spaces from a classroom and office building to understand how design choices influence the biogeography of the built environment microbiome
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