Airborne Bacteria in Institutional and Commercial Buildings in Korea: Characterization with 16S rRNA Gene Sequencing and Association with Environmental Conditions

Details

• Personal Author:
  Kim YJ ; Lee BG ; Lee H ; Park, Ju-Hyeong ; Shim JE ; Yeo M-K
• Description:
  Information on microorganisms in indoor air of various institutional and commercial buildings has significant value in a public health management perspective. However, there is a lack of prior research comparing indoor airborne microbiota across different categories of those buildings. We characterized indoor airborne bacteria in 10 buildings (two for each of five categories: train station, parking garage, mart, public library, and daycare center) during summer and winter. The 16S rRNA gene in the bacterial gDNA extracted from samples was quantified using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and sequenced with the Illumina MiSeq(TM) platform for characterizing community composition. We collected information on temperature, relative humidity, CO2 concentration, and particulate matter (PM) concentrations by particle size (<1 µm, 1-2.5 µm, 2.5-10 µm) indoors. We performed a multivariate regression analysis to identify factors influencing bacterial quantity and Permutational Multivariate Analysis of Variance (PERMANOVA) to determine factors affecting cluster dissimilarity. We found that bacterial concentration was significantly (p-values < 0.05) associated with season and CO2 concentration. The PERMANOVA analyses showed the significant (p-values < 0.05) associations of bacterial cluster dissimilarity with season, building category, and CO2. Our study indicated that the season, and CO2 concentrations may be important factors associated with the indoor airborne bacterial concentration and composition. Building category and usage appeared to significantly influence the bacterial community composition but not the concentration. Our study may provide basic data on bacterial community composition and their concentration that are needed for properly managing microbial exposures in occupants or customers of the studied institutional and commercial buildings. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Air Pollution, Indoor Carbon Dioxide Microbiology Occupational Health Particulate Matter Safety
• Keywords:
  Bacteria Carbon Dioxide IAQ Indoor Air Quality Microorganisms Particle Size Particulates Regression Analysis Seasonal Factors
• ISSN:
  0278-6826
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  Philadelphia Region [OSHA] ; West Virginia
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  RHD - Respiratory Health Division
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  58
• Issue:
  11
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20070053
• Citation:
  Aerosol Sci Technol 2024 Nov; 58(11):1281-1292
• Contact Point Address:
  Ju-Hyeong Park, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention/National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 1095 Willowdale Rd., Morgantown, WV 26505, USA
• Email:
  gzp8@cdc.gov
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2025
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Source Full Name:
  Aerosol Science and Technology
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:088f532f0967114fa5403467c7566f36dcd544b06d63f522ee2a9e85cb62fdf2ca332dbe7601fad12a9f14e84c0a5732eebde447fd7abb1cd328e7b58981b694
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/208351/cdc_208351_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.62 MB ]