title: Use of RNA amplification and electrophoresis for studying virus aerosol collection efficiency and their comparison with plaque assays.
abstract: The spread of virus-induced infectious diseases through airborne routes of transmission is a global concern for economic and medical reasons. To study virus transmission, it is essential to have an effective aerosol collector such as the growth tube collector (GTC) system that utilizes water-based condensation for collecting virus-containing aerosols. In this work, we characterized the GTC system using bacteriophage MS2 as a surrogate for a small RNA virus. We investigated using RNA extraction and reverse transcription- polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to study the total virus collection efficiency of the GTC system. Plaque assays were also used to enumerate viable viruses collected by the GTC system compared to that by a commercially available apparatus, the SKC® Biosampler. The plaque assay counts were used to enumerate viable viruses whereas RT-PCR provides a total virus count, including those viruses inactivated during collection. The effects of relative humidity (RH) and other conditions on collection efficiency were also investigated. Our results suggest that the GTC has a collection efficiency for viable viruses between 0.24 and 1.8% and a total virus collection efficiency between 18.3 and 79.0%, which is 1-2 orders of magnitude higher than that of the SKC® Biosampler. Moreover, higher RH significantly increases both the viable and total collection efficiency of the GTC, while its effect on the collection efficiency of the SKC® Biosampler is not significant.
authors.affiliation: J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Maohua
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Aerosol Dynamics Inc, Berkeley, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Susanne V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Hering
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Global Health, and Emerging Pathogens Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lednicky
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, Engineering School of Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Chang-Yu
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: J. Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA. hfan@ufl.edu.|Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA. hfan@ufl.edu.
authors.forename: Z Hugh
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Fan
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols; D000391:Air Microbiology; D004586:Electrophoresis / Q000379:methods*; D017909:Levivirus / Q000235:genetics; D021141:Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D010948:Viral Plaque Assay / Q000379:methods; D014780:Viruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D012367:RNA, Viral
keywords: Bacteriophage MS2; Condensation; Reverse-transcription PCR; Virus collection