title: Quo vadis? Microbial profiling revealed strong effects of cleanroom maintenance and routes of contamination in indoor environments.
abstract: Space agencies maintain highly controlled cleanrooms to ensure the demands of planetary protection. To study potential effects of microbiome control, we analyzed microbial communities in two particulate-controlled cleanrooms (ISO 5 and ISO 8) and two vicinal uncontrolled areas (office, changing room) by cultivation and 16S rRNA gene amplicon analysis (cloning, pyrotagsequencing, and PhyloChip G3 analysis). Maintenance procedures affected the microbiome on total abundance and microbial community structure concerning richness, diversity and relative abundance of certain taxa. Cleanroom areas were found to be mainly predominated by potentially human-associated bacteria; archaeal signatures were detected in every area. Results indicate that microorganisms were mainly spread from the changing room (68%) into the cleanrooms, potentially carried along with human activity. The numbers of colony forming units were reduced by up to ~400 fold from the uncontrolled areas towards the ISO 5 cleanroom, accompanied with a reduction of the living portion of microorganisms from 45% (changing area) to 1% of total 16S rRNA gene signatures as revealed via propidium monoazide treatment of the samples. Our results demonstrate the strong effects of cleanroom maintenance on microbial communities in indoor environments and can be used to improve the design and operation of biologically controlled cleanrooms.
authors.affiliation: 1] Institute for Microbiology and Archaea Center, University of Regensburg, Universitaetsstrasse 31, 93053 Regensburg, Germany [2] Medical University Graz, Department of Internal Medicine, Auenbruggerplatz 15, 8036 Graz, Austria [3] BioTechMed Graz, Krenngasse 37, 8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Moissl-Eichinger
authors.affiliation: Institute for Microbiology and Archaea Center, University of Regensburg, Universitaetsstrasse 31, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Anna K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Auerbach
authors.affiliation: Institute for Microbiology and Archaea Center, University of Regensburg, Universitaetsstrasse 31, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Probst
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Biotechnology, Graz University of Technology, Petersgasse 12, 8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mahnert
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, 1 Cyclotron Rd., Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Lauren
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tom
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, 1 Cyclotron Rd., Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Yvette
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Piceno
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, 1 Cyclotron Rd., Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Gary L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.affiliation: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
authors.forename: Kasthuri
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Venkateswaran
authors.affiliation: German Aerospace Center, Institute of Aerospace Medicine and Radiation Biology, Linder Höhe, 51147 Köln, Germany.
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rettberg
authors.affiliation: German Aerospace Center, Institute of Aerospace Medicine and Radiation Biology, Linder Höhe, 51147 Köln, Germany.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barczyk
authors.affiliation: Leibniz Institute DSMZ - Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH, Inhoffenstraβe 7 B, 38124 Braunschweig, Germany.
authors.forename: Rüdiger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pukall
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Biotechnology, Graz University of Technology, Petersgasse 12, 8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Berg
mesh_terms: D000391:Air Microbiology; D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor; D001105:Archaea / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D044822:Biodiversity; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004780:Environment, Controlled; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D006801:Humans; D054892:Metagenome; D056186:Metagenomics / Q000379:methods; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S