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Microbial diversity of extreme habitats in human homes

High-throughput sequencing techniques have opened up the world of microbial diversity to scientists, and a flurry of studies in the most remote and extreme habitats on earth have begun to elucidate the key roles of microbes in ecosystems with extreme conditions. These same environmental extremes can...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Savage, Amy M., Hills, Justin, Driscoll, Katherine, Fergus, Daniel J., Grunden, Amy M., Dunn, Robert R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: PeerJ Inc. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5028791/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27672493
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2376
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author Savage, Amy M.
Hills, Justin
Driscoll, Katherine
Fergus, Daniel J.
Grunden, Amy M.
Dunn, Robert R.
author_facet Savage, Amy M.
Hills, Justin
Driscoll, Katherine
Fergus, Daniel J.
Grunden, Amy M.
Dunn, Robert R.
author_sort Savage, Amy M.
collection PubMed
description High-throughput sequencing techniques have opened up the world of microbial diversity to scientists, and a flurry of studies in the most remote and extreme habitats on earth have begun to elucidate the key roles of microbes in ecosystems with extreme conditions. These same environmental extremes can also be found closer to humans, even in our homes. Here, we used high-throughput sequencing techniques to assess bacterial and archaeal diversity in the extreme environments inside human homes (e.g., dishwashers, hot water heaters, washing machine bleach reservoirs, etc.). We focused on habitats in the home with extreme temperature, pH, and chemical environmental conditions. We found a lower diversity of microbes in these extreme home environments compared to less extreme habitats in the home. However, we were nonetheless able to detect sequences from a relatively diverse array of bacteria and archaea. Habitats with extreme temperatures alone appeared to be able to support a greater diversity of microbes than habitats with extreme pH or extreme chemical environments alone. Microbial diversity was lowest when habitats had both extreme temperature and one of these other extremes. In habitats with both extreme temperatures and extreme pH, taxa with known associations with extreme conditions dominated. Our findings highlight the importance of examining interactive effects of multiple environmental extremes on microbial communities. Inasmuch as taxa from extreme environments can be both beneficial and harmful to humans, our findings also suggest future work to understand both the threats and opportunities posed by the life in these habitats.
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spelling pubmed-50287912016-09-26 Microbial diversity of extreme habitats in human homes Savage, Amy M. Hills, Justin Driscoll, Katherine Fergus, Daniel J. Grunden, Amy M. Dunn, Robert R. PeerJ Biodiversity High-throughput sequencing techniques have opened up the world of microbial diversity to scientists, and a flurry of studies in the most remote and extreme habitats on earth have begun to elucidate the key roles of microbes in ecosystems with extreme conditions. These same environmental extremes can also be found closer to humans, even in our homes. Here, we used high-throughput sequencing techniques to assess bacterial and archaeal diversity in the extreme environments inside human homes (e.g., dishwashers, hot water heaters, washing machine bleach reservoirs, etc.). We focused on habitats in the home with extreme temperature, pH, and chemical environmental conditions. We found a lower diversity of microbes in these extreme home environments compared to less extreme habitats in the home. However, we were nonetheless able to detect sequences from a relatively diverse array of bacteria and archaea. Habitats with extreme temperatures alone appeared to be able to support a greater diversity of microbes than habitats with extreme pH or extreme chemical environments alone. Microbial diversity was lowest when habitats had both extreme temperature and one of these other extremes. In habitats with both extreme temperatures and extreme pH, taxa with known associations with extreme conditions dominated. Our findings highlight the importance of examining interactive effects of multiple environmental extremes on microbial communities. Inasmuch as taxa from extreme environments can be both beneficial and harmful to humans, our findings also suggest future work to understand both the threats and opportunities posed by the life in these habitats. PeerJ Inc. 2016-09-13 /pmc/articles/PMC5028791/ /pubmed/27672493 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2376 Text en ©2016 Savage et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
spellingShingle Biodiversity
Savage, Amy M.
Hills, Justin
Driscoll, Katherine
Fergus, Daniel J.
Grunden, Amy M.
Dunn, Robert R.
Microbial diversity of extreme habitats in human homes
title Microbial diversity of extreme habitats in human homes
title_full Microbial diversity of extreme habitats in human homes
title_fullStr Microbial diversity of extreme habitats in human homes
title_full_unstemmed Microbial diversity of extreme habitats in human homes
title_short Microbial diversity of extreme habitats in human homes
title_sort microbial diversity of extreme habitats in human homes
topic Biodiversity
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5028791/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27672493
http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2376
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