Walls talk: Microbial biogeography of homes spanning urbanization.
Sci Adv
; 2(2): e1501061, 2016 Feb.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-26933683
ABSTRACT
Westernization has propelled changes in urbanization and architecture, altering our exposure to the outdoor environment from that experienced during most of human evolution. These changes might affect the developmental exposure of infants to bacteria, immune development, and human microbiome diversity. Contemporary urban humans spend most of their time indoors, and little is known about the microbes associated with different designs of the built environment and their interaction with the human immune system. This study addresses the associations between architectural design and the microbial biogeography of households across a gradient of urbanization in South America. Urbanization was associated with households' increased isolation from outdoor environments, with additional indoor space isolation by walls. Microbes from house walls and floors segregate by location, and urban indoor walls contain human bacterial markers of space use. Urbanized spaces uniquely increase the content of human-associated microbes-which could increase transmission of potential pathogens-and decrease exposure to the environmental microbes with which humans have coevolved.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Urbanización
/
Microbiología Ambiental
/
Microbiota
Límite:
Humans
País/Región como asunto:
America do sul
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Sci Adv
Año:
2016
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos