Microbial diversity of extreme habitats in human homes
- Published
- Accepted
- Subject Areas
- Biodiversity, Ecology, Microbiology
- Keywords
- Community Ecology, Extreme environments, Human Homes, Interactive effects, Microbial diversity, Temperature, pH, Chemical
- Copyright
- © 2016 Savage et al.
- Licence
- This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
- Cite this article
- 2016. Microbial diversity of extreme habitats in human homes. PeerJ Preprints 4:e1874v1 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1874v1
Abstract
Background: High throughput sequencing techniques have opened up the world of microbial diversity to scientists, and a flurry of studies in the most remote and extreme habitats on earth have begun to elucidate the key roles of microbes in ecosystems with extreme conditions. These same environmental extremes can also be found closer to humans; in fact, they can be found in our homes. Here, we used high throughput sequencing techniques to assess microbial diversity in the extreme environments inside human homes (e.g. dishwashers, hot water heaters, washing machine bleach reservoirs, etc.). We focused on habitats in the home with extreme temperature, pH and chemical environmental conditions.
Results: We found that although these habitats supported a lower diversity of microbes than less extreme habitats in the home, there were still diverse microbial assemblages in extreme home environments. Habitats with extreme temperatures alone appeared to be able to support a greater diversity of microbes than habitats with extreme pH or extreme chemical environments alone. Microbial diversity was lowest when habitats had both extreme temperature and one of these other extremes. This interactive effect was strongest when habitats had both extreme temperatures and extreme pH. Under these conditions, taxa with known associations with extreme conditions dominated.
Conclusions: Our findings highlight the importance of examining interactive effects of multiple environmental extremes on microbial communities. Inasmuch as taxa from extreme environments can be both pathogens and industrially useful, our findings also suggest future work to understand both the threats and opportunities posed by the life in these habitats.
Author Comment
This is a submission to PeerJ for review.