title: Alterations in the airborne bacterial community during Asian dust events occurring between February and March 2015 in South Korea.
abstract: During Asian dust events, a relatively high concentration of particulate matter is transported by wind from arid and semi-arid regions, such as the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts, to nearby countries, including China, Korea, and Japan. The dust particles contain various microorganisms, which can affect human health as well as the environmental microbe population. In the current study, we investigated the characteristics of the airborne bacterial community during Asian dust events between February and March 2015 in South Korea. Bacterial diversity indexes such as operational taxonomic units, Chao1 and Inverse Simpson index were increased, along with total 16S rRNA gene copy number during Asian dust events. The bacterial community structure during Asian dust events was clearly distinguishable from that during non-Asian dust days. The genera Bacillus and Modestobacter were increased 3.9- and 2.7-fold, respectively, while Escherichia-Shigella was decreased by 89.8%. A non-metric multidimensional scaling plot with metadata analysis revealed association of particulate matter concentration, but not temperature, humidity or wind speed, with bacterial community structure, suggesting that the newly transported dust particles contain various microorganisms that influence the airborne bacterial environment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang, 10326, South Korea.
authors.forename: Seho
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cha
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang, 10326, South Korea.
authors.forename: Dongwook
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang, 10326, South Korea.
authors.forename: Jun Hyeong
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Jang
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang, 10326, South Korea.
authors.forename: Sora
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang, 10326, South Korea.
authors.forename: Dahye
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Life Science, Dongguk University-Seoul, Goyang, 10326, South Korea.
authors.forename: Taegun
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Seo
mesh_terms: D000391:Air Microbiology; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics; D002681:China; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis*; D010802:Phylogeny; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012621:Seasons; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014919:Wind
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D004391:Dust; D052638:Particulate Matter; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S