Size-resolved bioaerosols in residential environments

What is it about?

Indoor air particles comprise of a complex mixture of microorganisms (bioaerosols) originating from both indoor and outdoor sources. Aerodynamic diameter (i.e. particle size) strongly influences the fate of biological particles and human exposure and therefore, size-resolved data are of fundamental value for developing insights regarding health effects of exposure to bioaerosols. People in developed nations spend around 80–90% of their time in the built environment, which underlies the fact that we are far more exposed to airborne microbial particles indoors than outdoors. Despite the significant amount of time spent in the domestic environment, culture-independent size distribution data of bioaerosols are largely missing. In order to gain a better insight into the factors driving the indoor air microbiome in domestic environments, this study aimed to investigate the size-resolved fractions of airborne bacterial communities in two naturally ventilated residential settings, characterised by different levels of urbanisation, by monitoring both indoor and outdoor bioaerosols over a seasonal cycle, using high throughput sequencing.

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Photo by Grant on Unsplash

Photo by Grant on Unsplash

Why is it important?

- A large proportion of time spent indoors is in residential settings. As a result, it is important to assess the microbial exposure associated with air quality in residential environments. - Little is known about the temporal changes of the microbial abundance and diversity of aerosols in indoor environments. - Molecular-based size distribution data of bioaerosols are largely missing. - Further research is required to better understand the role of particle size in shaping the aerosol microbial communities, which is crucial for human exposure assessment.