Microbial biogeography of public restroom surfaces.
We spend the majority of our lives indoors where we are constantly exposed to bacteria residing on surfaces. However, the diversity of these surface-associated communities is largely unknown. We explored the biogeographical patterns exhibited by bacteria across ten surfaces within each of twelve pub...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2011-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3223236?pdf=render |
| _version_ | 1819077282134753280 |
|---|---|
| author | Gilberto E Flores Scott T Bates Dan Knights Christian L Lauber Jesse Stombaugh Rob Knight Noah Fierer |
| author_facet | Gilberto E Flores Scott T Bates Dan Knights Christian L Lauber Jesse Stombaugh Rob Knight Noah Fierer |
| author_sort | Gilberto E Flores |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We spend the majority of our lives indoors where we are constantly exposed to bacteria residing on surfaces. However, the diversity of these surface-associated communities is largely unknown. We explored the biogeographical patterns exhibited by bacteria across ten surfaces within each of twelve public restrooms. Using high-throughput barcoded pyrosequencing of the 16 S rRNA gene, we identified 19 bacterial phyla across all surfaces. Most sequences belonged to four phyla: Actinobacteria, Bacteriodetes, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. The communities clustered into three general categories: those found on surfaces associated with toilets, those on the restroom floor, and those found on surfaces routinely touched with hands. On toilet surfaces, gut-associated taxa were more prevalent, suggesting fecal contamination of these surfaces. Floor surfaces were the most diverse of all communities and contained several taxa commonly found in soils. Skin-associated bacteria, especially the Propionibacteriaceae, dominated surfaces routinely touched with our hands. Certain taxa were more common in female than in male restrooms as vagina-associated Lactobacillaceae were widely distributed in female restrooms, likely from urine contamination. Use of the SourceTracker algorithm confirmed many of our taxonomic observations as human skin was the primary source of bacteria on restroom surfaces. Overall, these results demonstrate that restroom surfaces host relatively diverse microbial communities dominated by human-associated bacteria with clear linkages between communities on or in different body sites and those communities found on restroom surfaces. More generally, this work is relevant to the public health field as we show that human-associated microbes are commonly found on restroom surfaces suggesting that bacterial pathogens could readily be transmitted between individuals by the touching of surfaces. Furthermore, we demonstrate that we can use high-throughput analyses of bacterial communities to determine sources of bacteria on indoor surfaces, an approach which could be used to track pathogen transmission and test the efficacy of hygiene practices. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T18:54:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-123860d6e92945bb8b7236832e19d1d8 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T18:54:43Z |
| publishDate | 2011-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-123860d6e92945bb8b7236832e19d1d82022-12-21T18:53:38ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032011-01-01611e2813210.1371/journal.pone.0028132Microbial biogeography of public restroom surfaces.Gilberto E FloresScott T BatesDan KnightsChristian L LauberJesse StombaughRob KnightNoah FiererWe spend the majority of our lives indoors where we are constantly exposed to bacteria residing on surfaces. However, the diversity of these surface-associated communities is largely unknown. We explored the biogeographical patterns exhibited by bacteria across ten surfaces within each of twelve public restrooms. Using high-throughput barcoded pyrosequencing of the 16 S rRNA gene, we identified 19 bacterial phyla across all surfaces. Most sequences belonged to four phyla: Actinobacteria, Bacteriodetes, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria. The communities clustered into three general categories: those found on surfaces associated with toilets, those on the restroom floor, and those found on surfaces routinely touched with hands. On toilet surfaces, gut-associated taxa were more prevalent, suggesting fecal contamination of these surfaces. Floor surfaces were the most diverse of all communities and contained several taxa commonly found in soils. Skin-associated bacteria, especially the Propionibacteriaceae, dominated surfaces routinely touched with our hands. Certain taxa were more common in female than in male restrooms as vagina-associated Lactobacillaceae were widely distributed in female restrooms, likely from urine contamination. Use of the SourceTracker algorithm confirmed many of our taxonomic observations as human skin was the primary source of bacteria on restroom surfaces. Overall, these results demonstrate that restroom surfaces host relatively diverse microbial communities dominated by human-associated bacteria with clear linkages between communities on or in different body sites and those communities found on restroom surfaces. More generally, this work is relevant to the public health field as we show that human-associated microbes are commonly found on restroom surfaces suggesting that bacterial pathogens could readily be transmitted between individuals by the touching of surfaces. Furthermore, we demonstrate that we can use high-throughput analyses of bacterial communities to determine sources of bacteria on indoor surfaces, an approach which could be used to track pathogen transmission and test the efficacy of hygiene practices.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3223236?pdf=render |
| spellingShingle | Gilberto E Flores Scott T Bates Dan Knights Christian L Lauber Jesse Stombaugh Rob Knight Noah Fierer Microbial biogeography of public restroom surfaces. PLoS ONE |
| title | Microbial biogeography of public restroom surfaces. |
| title_full | Microbial biogeography of public restroom surfaces. |
| title_fullStr | Microbial biogeography of public restroom surfaces. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Microbial biogeography of public restroom surfaces. |
| title_short | Microbial biogeography of public restroom surfaces. |
| title_sort | microbial biogeography of public restroom surfaces |
| url | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC3223236?pdf=render |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT gilbertoeflores microbialbiogeographyofpublicrestroomsurfaces AT scotttbates microbialbiogeographyofpublicrestroomsurfaces AT danknights microbialbiogeographyofpublicrestroomsurfaces AT christianllauber microbialbiogeographyofpublicrestroomsurfaces AT jessestombaugh microbialbiogeographyofpublicrestroomsurfaces AT robknight microbialbiogeographyofpublicrestroomsurfaces AT noahfierer microbialbiogeographyofpublicrestroomsurfaces |