Abstract
The presence of microbes in the atmosphere and their transport over long distances across the Earth's surface was recently shown. Precipitation is likely a major path by which aerial microbes fall to the ground surface, affecting its microbial ecosystems and introducing pathogenic microbes. Understanding microbial communities in precipitation is of multidisciplinary interest from the perspectives of microbial ecology and public health; however, community-wide and seasonal analyses have not been conducted. Here, we carried out 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing of 30 precipitation samples that were aseptically collected over 1 year in the Greater Tokyo Area, Japan. The precipitation microbial communities were dominated by Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria and were overall consistent with those previously reported in atmospheric aerosols and cloud water. Seasonal variations in composition were observed; specifically, Proteobacteria abundance significantly decreased from summer to winter. Notably, estimated ordinary habitats of precipitation microbes were dominated by animal-associated, soil-related, and marine-related environments, and reasonably consistent with estimated air mass backward trajectories. To our knowledge, this is the first amplicon-sequencing study investigating precipitation microbial communities involving sampling over the duration of a year.
Highlights
Microbes are present and move around nearly everywhere in the Earth
Pathogens in the atmosphere may be transported over long distances, as integrated simulation analyses of climate and disease propagation suggest the involvement of aerial microbes in human diseases (Rodó et al, 2011, 2014)
We conducted 16S ribosomal RNA ampliconsequencing analysis of 30 precipitation samples that were aseptically collected over 1 year in the Greater Tokyo Area, Japan
Summary
Aerial microbes have received considerable attention within this context because the atmosphere is an unusual habitat for microbes and likely represents a path by which microbes move exceptionally long distances (Kellogg and Griffin, 2006; Burrows et al, 2009; Després et al, 2012; Smith, 2013; Fröhlich-Nowoisky et al, 2016). Pathogens in the atmosphere may be transported over long distances, as integrated simulation analyses of climate and disease propagation suggest the involvement of aerial microbes in human diseases (Rodó et al, 2011, 2014). The outbreak of several plant infections due to aerial microbes transported beyond borders and seas has been hypothesized (Fitt et al, 1989; Brown and Hovmøller, 2002)
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