title: Characterization of the microbial community in indoor environments: a chemical-analytical approach.
abstract: An integrated procedure is presented whereby gas chromatography-ion trap mass spectrometry is used to determine chemical markers of gram-negative bacterial lipopolysaccharide (3-hydroxy fatty acids with 10 to 18 carbon atoms), gram-positive bacteria (branched-chain fatty acids with 15 and 17 carbon atoms), bacterial peptidoglycan (muramic acid), and fungal biomass (ergosterol) in samples of settled house dust. A hydrolysate of (13)C-labeled cyanobacterial cells is used as an internal standard for the first three markers. These analyses require two dust samples, one for 3-OH fatty acids, branched-chain fatty acids, and muramic acid and another for ergosterol. The method may be used to characterize microbial communities in environmental samples.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Dermatology and Infection, University of Lund, S-223 62 Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sebastian
authors.forename: Lennart
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Larsson
mesh_terms: D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor; D001419:Bacteria / Q000737:chemistry*; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000032:analysis; D018533:Biomass; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D004875:Ergosterol / Q000032:analysis; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis; D005658:Fungi / Q000737:chemistry*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000032:analysis; D009112:Muramic Acids / Q000032:analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D004391:Dust; D005227:Fatty Acids; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D009112:Muramic Acids; D004875:Ergosterol