November 21, 2022

Researchers at PolyU Have Created the World's First Atlas of Airborne Microbes

P PolyU researchers have created the world's first Atlas of Airborne Microbes to learn about the various types of microbial populations. PolyU researchers have compiled a comprehensive map of the world's airborne microbes after nearly a decade of work, providing new insights into how these species interact with the surface environment - as well as their likely future changes.

The PolyU-led team spent a year sampling airborne microbes from the world over, from ground level to mountaintops, in collaboration with mainland and US researchers to compile the Atlas of Airborne Microbes. They and their research partners created the first-ever atlas of the global airborne microbiome by combining their findings with the most accurate global data collected in previous studies.

…the team's genetic analysis revealed that the core communities - the handful of species that make up a disproportionate proportion of the microbe population - differed in the air from those found in marine or soil ecosystems…

The Atlas of Airborne Microbes contains a wealth of information about the microbial communities that live above ground. There is no doubt that the air is a unique bacterial habitat. The team's genetic analysis revealed that the core communities - the handful of species that comprise a disproportionate proportion of the microbe population - differed in the air from those found in marine or soil ecosystems. Even though the air is a free-flowing medium with no apparent internal boundaries, these core bacterial communities are highly localised and stable.

For a more diverse coverage in terms of altitudes and geographic regions, the research team examined the bacterial communities of 370 individual air particulate samples collected from 63 locations around the world, ranging from ground level (1.5 - 2 m high) to rooftops (5 - 25 m high) and high mountains (5,238 m asl), as well as densely populated urban centres to the Arctic Circle.

When asked about the Atlas, Prof. Xiang-dong LI, Chair Professor of Environmental Science and Technology and Dean of Faculty of Construction and Environment of PolyU who led the research team said, "We have verified that human activities have certainly changed the structure of microbiomes in the natural ambient air, particularly with a higher abundance of pathogenic bacteria in urban air. Having experienced the pandemic for three years, people now pay more attention to this invisible but influential microbial community. The research outcomes could be a critical reference for predicting planetary microbiome responses and the health impacts of inhalable microbiomes with future environmental changes."

In the study, the PolyU team worked with Prof. James M. TIEDJE, University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University, and scientists from mainland China.

The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Posted in News and tagged News, PolyU, Atlas+, Airborne Microbes, Michigan State University, China
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