Aeromicrobiology: A global review of the cycling and relationships of bioaerosols with the atmosphere

Tastassa, Ariel C.; Sharaby, Yehonatan; Lang-Yona, Naama

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.168478

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 248 publications

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“…The atmosphere forms a blanket over the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and cryosphere, which are well-known microbial ecosystems. It is reasonable that the atmosphere is another planetary scale habitat harbouring microbial communities that interact with their environment and exert significant influence over global-scale processes, yet few have considered the possibility prior to the recent renewed interest in atmospheric microbial ecology [ 3–7 ]. A recent estimate of the biomass distribution on Earth omits atmospheric biomass [ 8 ], reflective of frequent lack of consideration of the atmosphere as part of the biosphere.…”

Section: An Ocean Of Air: the Significance Of The Atmosphere As A Mic...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Is there a continuous, resident microbiome in the atmosphere, or is microbial community composition dynamic, with regular turnover of organisms via mixing with adjacent environments that vary across geographical locations? The concept of obligately atmospheric, or “Peter Pan” (never landing) microorganisms has recently been proposed [ 3 ] and presents a curious avenue of study that will help to define the nature of the atmospheric ecosystem and the requirements to sustain atmospheric microbial life.…”

Section: An Ocean Of Air: the Significance Of The Atmosphere As A Mic...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The atmosphere: a transport medium or an active microbial ecosystem?

Lappan,

Thakar,

Molares Moncayo

et al. 2024

The ISME Journal

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The atmosphere may be Earth’s largest microbial ecosystem. It is connected to all of Earth’s surface ecosystems and plays an important role in microbial dispersal on local to global scales. Despite this grand scale, surprisingly little is understood about the atmosphere itself as a habitat. A key question remains unresolved: does the atmosphere simply transport microorganisms from one location to another, or does it harbor adapted, resident, and active microbial communities that overcome the physiological stressors and selection pressures the atmosphere poses to life? Advances in extreme microbiology and astrobiology continue to push our understanding of the limits of life towards ever greater extremes of temperature, pressure, salinity, irradiance, pH, and water availability. Earth’s atmosphere stands as a challenging, but potentially surmountable, extreme environment to harbour living, active, resident microorganisms. Here we confront the current understanding of the atmosphere as a microbial habitat, highlighting key advances and limitations. We pose major ecological and mechanistic questions about microbial life in the atmosphere that remain unresolved and frame the problems and technical pitfalls that have largely hindered recent developments in this space, providing evidence-based insights to drive future research in this field. New innovations supported by rigorous technical standards are needed to enable progress in understanding atmospheric microorganisms and their influence on global processes of weather, climate, nutrient cycling, biodiversity, and microbial connectivity, especially in the context of rapid global change.

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Section: An Ocean Of Air: the Significance Of The Atmosphere As A Mic...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: An Ocean Of Air: the Significance Of The Atmosphere As A Mic...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The atmosphere: a transport medium or an active microbial ecosystem?

Lappan,

Thakar,

Molares Moncayo

et al. 2024

The ISME Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Airborne microorganisms disperse across continents and oceans, facilitating genomic and metabolic exchanges across different ecosystems (Tastassa et al, 2023 ). Moreover, they can significantly impact aquatic, atmospheric, and terrestrial environments and human health (Lang‐Yona et al, 2020 ; Maki et al, 2022 ; Risely et al, 2018 ; Sadakane et al, 2022 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental processes and health implications potentially mediated by dust‐borne bacteria

Hu,

Sharaby,

et al. 2023

Environ Microbiol Rep

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Understanding microbial migration and survival mechanisms in dust events (DEs) can elucidate genetic and metabolic exchange between environments and help predict the atmospheric pathways of ecological and health‐related microbial stressors. Dust‐borne microbial communities have been previously characterized, but the impact and interactions between potentially active bacteria within transported communities remain limited. Here, we analysed samples collected during DEs in Israel, using amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA genes and transcripts. Different air trajectories and wind speeds were associated not only with the genomic microbial community composition variations but also with specific 16S rRNA bacterial transcripts. Potentially active dust‐borne bacteria exhibited positive interactions, including carbon and nitrogen cycling, biotransformation of heavy metals, degradation of organic compounds, biofilm formation, and the presence of pathogenic taxa. This study provides insights into the potential interactive relationships and survival strategies of microorganisms within the extreme dust environment.

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