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Microorganisms
Special Issues
Airborne Microbial Communities
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Airborne Microbial Communities

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 July 2024) | Viewed by 3992

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Daisuke Tanaka

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Guest Editor
Faculty of Science, Academic Assembly, University of Toyama, 3190 Gofuku, Toyama 930-8555, Japan
Interests: microbial ecology; atmospheric environments; aquatic environments; bacteria
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Fumito Maruyama

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for the Planetary Health and Innovation Science (PHIS), The IDEC Institute, Hiroshima University, 1-3-2 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima City 739-8511, Hiroshima, Japan
Interests: microbial ecology; microbial genomics; metagenomics; holobiome; microbiome of the built environment; bioaerosol; culture methods; biotic and abiotic interaction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Milko A. Jorquera

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemical Science and Environmental Resources, La Frontera University, Temuco 4811-230, Chile
Interests: airborne microbiomes; algae-associated microbiomes; bacterial community diversity; extremophilic bacteria; plant-associated microbiomes; plant growth-promoting bacteria; sediment-associated microbiomes; soil microbiology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to elucidate the complex dynamics and implications of airborne microbial communities, encompassing a spectrum of organisms such as bacteria, fungi, algae, archaea, and viruses. The influence of these airborne microbes is multifaceted, extending to human and animal health, agricultural productivity, ecosystem stability, and climatic processes. Current research underscores the variation in outdoor airborne microbial communities as a function of seasonal changes, geographic variability, and air pollution levels. Additionally, the composition of indoor microbial communities is influenced by a variety of factors including ambient temperature, humidity levels, ventilation systems, occupant density, and the influx of microbes from outdoor environments. The objective of this Special Issue is to showcase cutting-edge research that advances our understanding of the composition, diversity, and abundance of microbial communities in the air, as well as their impacts. As Guest Editor, I am extending an invitation for the submission of original research articles, comprehensive review papers, and succinct communications that contribute to the knowledge of monitoring, managing, and mitigating airborne microbial communities. This includes, but is not limited to, studies focusing on the characterization of bioaerosols and their implications for health, the environment, and the climate.

We anticipate your valuable contributions to this critical field of study.

Prof. Dr. Daisuke Tanaka
Prof. Dr. Fumito Maruyama
Dr. Milko A. Jorquera
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • microbial community
  • diversity
  • air
  • atmosphere
  • built environments
  • monitoring
  • bacteria
  • fungi
  • microorganisms
  • bioaerosols

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 1021 KiB  
Article
An Easy-to-Use Tool to Predict SARS-CoV-2 Risk of Infection in Closed Settings: Validation with the Use of an Individual-Based Monte Carlo Simulation
by Benedetta Santoro, Francesca Larese Filon and Edoardo Milotti
Microorganisms 2024, 12(12), 2401; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12122401 - 22 Nov 2024
Viewed by 850
Abstract
The dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic showed that closed environments, such as hospitals and schools, are more likely to host infection clusters due to environmental variables like humidity, ventilation, and overcrowding. This study aimed to validate our local transmission model by reproducing the [...] Read more.
The dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic showed that closed environments, such as hospitals and schools, are more likely to host infection clusters due to environmental variables like humidity, ventilation, and overcrowding. This study aimed to validate our local transmission model by reproducing the data on SARS-CoV-2 diffusion in a hospital ward. We implemented our model in a Monte Carlo procedure that simulates the contacts between patients and healthcare workers in Trieste’s geriatric ward and calculates the number of infected individuals. We found the median number of infected workers to be 38.98 (IQR = 7.75), while all patients were infected in most of the simulation runs. More infections occurred in rooms with lower volumes. Higher ventilation and mask-wearing contribute to reduced infections; in particular, we obtained a median value of 35.06 (IQR = 9.21) for the simulation in which we doubled room ventilation and 26.12 (IQR = 10.33) in the simulation run in which workers wore surgical masks. We managed to reproduce the data on infections in the ward; using a sensitivity analysis, we identified the parameters that had the greatest impact on the probability of transmission and the size of the outbreak. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Airborne Microbial Communities)
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28 pages, 3481 KiB  
Article
Comparison of Culture-Dependent and Culture-Independent Methods for Routine Identification of Airborne Microorganisms in Speleotherapeutic Caves
by Rok Tomazin, Tjaša Cerar Kišek, Tea Janko, Tina Triglav, Katja Strašek Smrdel, Vesna Cvitković Špik, Andreja Kukec, Janez Mulec and Tadeja Matos
Microorganisms 2024, 12(7), 1427; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12071427 - 14 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1350
Abstract
The effective identification of bacterial and fungal isolates is essential for microbiological monitoring in environments like speleotherapeutic caves. This study compares MALDI-TOF MS and the OmniLog ID System, two high-throughput culture-based identification methods. MALDI-TOF MS identified 80.0% of bacterial isolates to the species [...] Read more.
The effective identification of bacterial and fungal isolates is essential for microbiological monitoring in environments like speleotherapeutic caves. This study compares MALDI-TOF MS and the OmniLog ID System, two high-throughput culture-based identification methods. MALDI-TOF MS identified 80.0% of bacterial isolates to the species level, while the OmniLog ID System identified 92.9%. However, species-level matches between the methods were only 48.8%, revealing considerable discrepancies. For discrepant results, MALDI-TOF MS matched molecular identification at the genus level in 90.5% of cases, while the OmniLog ID System matched only in 28.6%, demonstrating MALDI-TOF MS’s superiority. The OmniLog ID System had difficulties identifying genera from the order Micrococcales. Fungal identification success with MALDI-TOF MS was 30.6% at the species level, potentially improvable with a customised spectral library, compared to the OmniLog ID System’s 16.7%. Metagenomic approaches detected around 100 times more microbial taxa than culture-based methods, highlighting human-associated microorganisms, especially Staphylococcus spp. In addition to Staphylococcus spp. and Micrococcus spp. as indicators of cave anthropisation, metagenomics revealed another indicator, Cutibacterium acnes. This study advocates a multi-method approach combining MALDI-TOF MS, the OmniLog ID System, culture-based, and metagenomic analyses for comprehensive microbial identification. Metagenomic sampling on nitrocellulose filters provided superior read quality and microbial representation over liquid sampling, making it preferable for cave air sample collection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Airborne Microbial Communities)
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14 pages, 2790 KiB  
Article
A Highly Homogeneous Airborne Fungal Community around a Copper Open Pit Mine Reveals the Poor Contribution Made by the Local Aerosolization of Particles
by Sebastián Fuentes-Alburquenque, Victoria Olivencia Suez, Omayra Aguilera, Blanca Águila, Luis Rojas Araya and Dinka Mandakovic
Microorganisms 2024, 12(5), 934; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12050934 - 4 May 2024
Viewed by 1124
Abstract
Fungi are ubiquitous and metabolically versatile. Their dispersion has important scientific, environmental, health, and economic implications. They can be dispersed through the air by the aerosolization of near surfaces or transported from distant sources. Here, we tested the contribution of local (scale of [...] Read more.
Fungi are ubiquitous and metabolically versatile. Their dispersion has important scientific, environmental, health, and economic implications. They can be dispersed through the air by the aerosolization of near surfaces or transported from distant sources. Here, we tested the contribution of local (scale of meters) versus regional (kilometers) sources by analyzing an airborne fungal community by ITS sequencing around a copper mine in the North of Chile. The mine was the regional source, whereas the soil and vegetal detritus were the local sources at each point. The airborne community was highly homogeneous at ca. 2000 km2, impeding the detection of regional or local contributions. Ascomycota was the dominant phylum in the three communities. Soil and vegetal detritus communities had lower alpha diversity, but some taxa had abundance patterns related to the distance from the mine and altitude. On the contrary, the air was compositionally even and unrelated to environmental or spatial factors, except for altitude. The presence of plant pathogens in the air suggests that other distant sources contribute to this region’s airborne fungal community and reinforces the complexity of tracking the sources of air microbial communities in a real world where several natural and human activities coexist. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Airborne Microbial Communities)
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