Architectural design drives the biogeography of indoor bacterial communities.
BACKGROUND
Architectural design has the potential to influence the microbiology of the built environment, with implications for human health and well-being, but the impact of design on the microbial biogeography of buildings remains poorly understood. In this study we combined microbiological data with information on the function, form, and organization of spaces from a classroom and office building to understand how design choices influence the biogeography of the built environment microbiome.


RESULTS
Sequencing of the bacterial 16S gene from dust samples revealed that indoor bacterial communities were extremely diverse, containing more than 32,750 OTUs (operational taxonomic units, 97% sequence similarity cutoff), but most communities were dominated by Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Deinococci. Architectural design characteristics related to space type, building arrangement, human use and movement, and ventilation source had a large influence on the structure of bacterial communities. Restrooms contained bacterial communities that were highly distinct from all other rooms, and spaces with high human occupant diversity and a high degree of connectedness to other spaces via ventilation or human movement contained a distinct set of bacterial taxa when compared to spaces with low occupant diversity and low connectedness. Within offices, the source of ventilation air had the greatest effect on bacterial community structure.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study indicates that humans have a guiding impact on the microbial biodiversity in buildings, both indirectly through the effects of architectural design on microbial community structure, and more directly through the effects of human occupancy and use patterns on the microbes found in different spaces and space types. The impact of design decisions in structuring the indoor microbiome offers the possibility to use ecological knowledge to shape our buildings in a way that will select for an indoor microbiome that promotes our health and well-being.
Département des sciences biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada ; Biology and the Built Environment Center, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America ; Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America.
Steven W
SW
Kembel
Biology and the Built Environment Center, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America ; Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America.
James F
JF
Meadow
Biology and the Built Environment Center, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America ; Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America ; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America.
Timothy K
TK
O'Connor
Biology and the Built Environment Center, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America ; Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America.
Gwynne
G
Mhuireach
Biology and the Built Environment Center, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America ; Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America.
Dale
D
Northcutt
Biology and the Built Environment Center, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America ; Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America.
Jeff
J
Kline
Biology and the Built Environment Center, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America ; Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America.
Maxwell
M
Moriyama
Biology and the Built Environment Center, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America ; Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America ; Department of Architecture, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America.
G Z
GZ
Brown
Biology and the Built Environment Center, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America ; Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America.
Brendan J M
BJ
Bohannan
Biology and the Built Environment Center, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America ; Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, United States of America ; Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States of America.
Jessica L
JL
Green
D034301:Deinococcus / Q000235:genetics; D004391:Dust; D004779:Environment Design; D004783:Environmental Microbiology; D064307:Microbiota / Q000235:genetics*; D058889:Molecular Typing; D010802:Phylogeny; D020560:Proteobacteria / Q000235:genetics; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D014495:Universities; D014691:Ventilation
D004391:Dust; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S