Evidence for metabolic activity of airborne bacteria

Dimmick, R. L.; Straat, Patricia Ann; Wolochow, H.; Levin, Gilbert V.; Chatigny, M. A.; Schrot, J. Rudolph

doi:10.1016/0021-8502(75)90054-3

Cited by 22 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…If they do, then the atmosphere may be considered a true habitat rather than just a place where they are transient interlopers. Although it was reported that Serratia marcescens could undergo cellular division while in a nutrient-containing aqueous droplet of 2 to 6 m in diameter (52,53,54,240), the results are not unequivocal. Glucose, a constituent of the medium, is a reducing sugar that can undergo nonenzymatic Maillard reactions that consume O 2 and liberate CO 2 , confounding the results of the study, which relied on O 2 consumption and CO 2 production as indirect indicators of metabolism (44).…”

Section: Upper Boundary Of the Biospherementioning

confidence: 90%

Space Microbiology

Horneck

Klaus

Mancinelli

2010

Microbiol Mol Biol Rev

575

489

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SUMMARY The responses of microorganisms (viruses, bacterial cells, bacterial and fungal spores, and lichens) to selected factors of space (microgravity, galactic cosmic radiation, solar UV radiation, and space vacuum) were determined in space and laboratory simulation experiments. In general, microorganisms tend to thrive in the space flight environment in terms of enhanced growth parameters and a demonstrated ability to proliferate in the presence of normally inhibitory levels of antibiotics. The mechanisms responsible for the observed biological responses, however, are not yet fully understood. A hypothesized interaction of microgravity with radiation-induced DNA repair processes was experimentally refuted. The survival of microorganisms in outer space was investigated to tackle questions on the upper boundary of the biosphere and on the likelihood of interplanetary transport of microorganisms. It was found that extraterrestrial solar UV radiation was the most deleterious factor of space. Among all organisms tested, only lichens (Rhizocarpon geographicum and Xanthoria elegans) maintained full viability after 2 weeks in outer space, whereas all other test systems were inactivated by orders of magnitude. Using optical filters and spores of Bacillus subtilis as a biological UV dosimeter, it was found that the current ozone layer reduces the biological effectiveness of solar UV by 3 orders of magnitude. If shielded against solar UV, spores of B. subtilis were capable of surviving in space for up to 6 years, especially if embedded in clay or meteorite powder (artificial meteorites). The data support the likelihood of interplanetary transfer of microorganisms within meteorites, the so-called lithopanspermia hypothesis.

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Section: Upper Boundary Of the Biospherementioning

confidence: 90%

Space Microbiology

Horneck

Klaus

Mancinelli

2010

Microbiol Mol Biol Rev

575

489

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“…cloud condensation and climate change (Sun and Ariya 2006)]. As reported in some previous studies (Krumins et al 2014; Dimmick et al 1975), metabolic activities have been detected in bacterial aerosols. We hypothesize that stress-response genes also play a role to help the survival of airborne bacteria as in other environmental media.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Importance of stress-response genes to the survival of airborne Escherichia coli under different levels of relative humidity

Chan

Lai

2017

AMB Expr

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Other than the needs for infection control to investigate the survival and inactivation of airborne bacterial pathogens, there has been a growing interest in exploring bacterial communities in the air and the effect of environmental variables on them. However, the innate biological mechanism influencing the bacterial viability is still unclear. In this study, a mutant-based approach, using Escherichia coli as a model, was used to prove the concept that common stress-response genes are important for airborne survival of bacteria. Mutants with a single gene knockout that are known to respond to general stress (rpoS) and oxidative stress (oxyR, soxR) were selected in the study. Low relative humidity (RH), 30–40% was more detrimental to the bacteria than high RH, >90%. The log reduction of ∆rpoS was always higher than that of the parental strain at all RH levels but the ∆oxyR had a higher log reduction than the parental strain at intermediate RH only. ∆soxR had the same viability compared to the parental strain at all RH levels. The results hint that although different types and levels of stress are produced under different RH conditions, stress-response genes always play a role in the bacterial viability. This study is the first reporting the association between stress-response genes and viability of airborne bacteria.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13568-017-0376-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Complete details of these experiments have been submitted and accepted for publication (Dimmick et al 1975), but the findings are summarized here in Figure 6. Some cells did take up glucose --termed insoluble particulate label (IPL) --and the IPL remained within cells for about ' hours.…”

Section: Metabolism In the Airborne Statementioning

confidence: 99%