Free Tropospheric Transport of Microorganisms from Asia to North America

Smith, David J.; Jaffe, Daniel A.; Birmele, Michele N.; Griffin, Dale W.; Schuerger, Andrew C.; Hee, J.; Roberts, Michael S.

doi:10.1007/s00248-012-0088-9

Cited by 131 publications

(122 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…From a culture-independent perspective, N. albida and other Naganishia OTUs were detected in Israeli dust storms from 2012 and 2013 (Katra et al 2014). Similar dust events have been tracked from Asia to North America indicating a potential route for dispersal of N. albida through the atmosphere (Griffin et al 2001; Smith et al 2012). Whether or not these organisms are active in the air column is unknown, but there is the potential for global dispersal of members of Naganishia species via wind and cloud formations in the troposphere.…”

Section: Global Aerial Dispersal Of Naganishia Speciesmentioning

confidence: 55%

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ANaganishiain high places: functioning populations or dormant cells from the atmosphere?

et al. 2017

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Here, we review the current state of knowledge concerning high-elevation members of the extremophilic Cryptococcus albidus clade (now classified as the genus Naganishia). These fungi dominate eukaryotic microbial communities across the highest elevation, soil-like material (tephra) on volcanoes such as Llullaillaco, Socompa, and Saírecabur in the Atacama region of Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia. Recent studies indicate that Naganishia species are among the most resistant organisms to UV radiation, and a strain of N. friedmannii from Volcán Llullaillaco is the first organism that is known to grow during the extreme, diurnal freeze-thaw cycles that occur on a continuous basis at elevations above 6000 m.a.s.l. in the Atacama region. These and other extremophilic traits discussed in this review may serve a dual purpose of allowing Naganishia species to survive long-distance transport through the atmosphere and to survive the extreme conditions found at high elevations. Current evidence indicates that there are frequent dispersal events between high-elevation volcanoes of Atacama region and the Dry Valleys of Antarctica via “Rossby Wave” merging of the polar and sub-tropical jet streams. This dispersal hypothesis needs further verification, as does the hypothesis that Naganishia species are flexible “opportunitrophs” that can grow during rare periods of water (from melting snow) and nutrient availability (from Aeolian inputs) in one of the most extreme terrestrial habitats on Earth.

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Section: Global Aerial Dispersal Of Naganishia Speciesmentioning

confidence: 55%

“…For example, N. albida has been isolated from filtered air samples from 2,700 m.a.s.l. in the Northwest USA (Smith et al 2012) and from 1,464 m.a.s.l. in Western Europe (Amato et al 2007), showing that these fungi are still viable after aerial transport.…”

Section: Global Aerial Dispersal Of Naganishia Speciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

ANaganishiain high places: functioning populations or dormant cells from the atmosphere?

et al. 2017

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“…While this ability is well known for particular Bacterial species 11,14,[48][49][50] , others, especially thermophiles, are known to exhibit evidence of dispersal limitation 46,[51][52][53][54] . Although these categorizations are largely dependent on temporal scaling 55 , our study did not examine potential strain-level endemicity of OTUs shared between Tramway Ridge and non-Antarctic sites, and all organisms probably exhibit some level of dispersal limitation 56 , here we have shown that global-scale dispersal nevertheless plays a significant role in the assembly of microbial communities over geological time periods.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Aerosolized microbes may originate from agricultural fields 2 , sewage treatment centres 3 , geothermal springs 4 , any surface exposed to sufficient wind force 5 and large-scale volcanic eruptions 6 . Organisms that have been independently aerosolized or attached to dust particles can be transported thousands of kilometres, which presumably allows microbes to easily move between continents and hemispheres [7][8][9][10][11] .…”

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confidence: 99%

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Evidence of global-scale aeolian dispersal and endemism in isolated geothermal microbial communities of Antarctica

et al. 2014

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Concentration of bacterial aerosols in response to synoptic weather and land‐sea breeze at a seaside site downwind of the Asian continent

Murata

Zhang

2016

JGR Atmospheres

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Airborne bacteria are a major group of bioaerosols, but their temporal and spatial variations in the atmosphere are poorly understood due to a lack of accurate information at an appropriate temporal resolution. In this study, we quantified the concentration and viability of airborne bacteria at a seaside site on the southwestern coast of Japan in spring to investigate their association with synoptic weather, which was governed alternately by cyclones and anticyclones moving in the middle‐latitude westerly flow. The concentration of bacteria, on the order of 105–106 cells m−3, showed a small amplitude of variation, while the viability significantly differed in the range of 23–96% under different weather conditions. Cyclones transported bacteria from the Asian continent in their postfrontal air. Compared to bacteria under other weather conditions, the bacteria in postfrontal air had a large concentration, a low viability, and a close correlation with coarse aerosol particles. In contrast, bacterial concentration and viability in prefrontal air varied over small ranges, and no correlation between bacteria and aerosol particle number concentration was observed. During anticyclones, although bacterial concentration was similar to that in prefrontal air, bacterial viability was high, and the concentration had pulse increases of approximately 2 times the usual level when the wind changed to land/sea breezes. The increases were attributed to the accumulation of bacteria in stagnant air due to local sources. These results show the following two distinct patterns of bacterial concentration and viability at the seaside location of this study: (1) during postfrontal long‐distance dust plume transport related to a cyclone approaching from the Asian continent, the bacterial concentration is correlated with the coarse aerosol particle number concentration and the bacterial viability is low, and (2) pulse increases of viable bacteria are observed at anticyclone conditions corresponding to local sources and land‐sea breeze conditions.

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Free Tropospheric Transport of Microorganisms from Asia to North America

Cited by 131 publications

References 50 publications

ANaganishiain high places: functioning populations or dormant cells from the atmosphere?

ANaganishiain high places: functioning populations or dormant cells from the atmosphere?

Evidence of global-scale aeolian dispersal and endemism in isolated geothermal microbial communities of Antarctica

Concentration of bacterial aerosols in response to synoptic weather and land‐sea breeze at a seaside site downwind of the Asian continent

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