Incorporating polymerase chain reaction-based identification, population characterization, and quantification of microorganisms into aerosol science: A review

Abstract

The quantity, identity, and distribution of biomass in indoor and outdoor aerosols are poorly described. This is not consistent with the current understanding of atmospheric chemistry or the microbiological characterization of aquatic and terrestrial environments. This knowledge gap is due to both difficulties in applying contemporary microbiological techniques to the low biomass concentrations present in aerosols, and the traditional reliance of aerosol researchers on culture-based techniques-the quantitative limitations and ecological biases of which have been well-documented and are now avoided in other environmental matrices. This article reviews the emergence of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as a nonculture-based method to determine the identity, distribution, and abundance of airborne microorganisms. To encourage the use of PCR-based techniques by a broad spectrum of aerosol researchers, emphasis is given to the critical, aerosol specific method issues of sample processing, DNA extraction, and PCR inhibition removal. These methods are synthesized into a generalized procedure for the PCR-based study of microbial aerosols-equally applicable to both indoor and outdoor aerosol environments. r

Development of a novel conductance-based technology for environmental bacterial sensing

“…conductance based technology are in line with literature data with respect to the relationship between total and culturable bacterial aerosol concentrations discussed in another study [2].…”

“…Figure 8 shows the comparisons of airborne total bacterial concentrations measured using the agar culturing and the conductance based technology. Averages of C [1][2][3] constants in the models developed for three pure bacterial species were used in the calculation.…”

“…Use of quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) can speed up the detection, however it still requires typically 4-6 h for detection with steps including sampling, DNA extraction, and amplification. In recent years, there is an increasing number of studies that aim at measuring bacterial concentrations in a real-time manner [1][2][3]. Among many others, the impedance-based technique has gained an increased attention.…”

Primary biological aerosol particles in the atmosphere: a review

“…The presence of bacteria in air is strongly dependent on many factors such as seasonality, meteorological factors, anthropogenic influence, variability of bacterial sources and many other complicated variables. More importantly, the analysis of airborne bacteria still suffers from a lack of standardisation in air sampling and sample processing methods (Kuske, 2006;Peccia and Hernandez, 2006;Womack et al, 2010). Thus, differences in airborne concentration estimates, as well as in composition and abundance, could either be caused by biological variations or by differences in sampling or analysis strategies.…”

“…Studies based on DNA obtained directly from atmospheric aerosol samples offer new possibilities to identify the origin of fungal matter, independent of viability, cultivability and fragmentation (e.g. Boreson et al, 2004;Peccia and Hernandez, 2006;Fierer et al, 2008;Bowers et al, 2009;. DNAbased techniques can amplify target regions of the DNA extracted directly from atmospheric aerosol samples.…”