What is in the air? Microbial communities at the amazon rainforest atmosphere
Speaker: Luciano F. Huergo (Universidade Federal do Parana)
Host: Karl Forchhammer (CMFI)
Date & Time: 07.12.2023 | 12:30 – 2 p.m.
Venue: Lecture hall 3M07, GUZ
Abstract:
Primary biological aerosols (or bioaerosols) are atmospheric particles of biological origin including archaea, bacteria, fungal spores, plant pollen, algae and excreta of organisms. Bioaerosols may influence climate by absorption of radiation, light scattering and by acting as cloud/ice condensation nuclei. The Amazon rainforest is the world's largest tropical forest, this biome may be a significant contributor to primary biological aerosol emissions on a global scale. However, the Amazon bioaerosol microbial communities remains largely unknown. We used a 16S rRNA gene-based amplicon sequencing approach to investigate the bacterial communities in aerosols of the Amazon rainforest. Our data revealed that seasonal changes in temperature, humidity and precipitation are the primary drivers of compositional changes in the Amazon aerosol microbiome. The Amazon core airborne microbiome was composed of Enterobacteriaceae, Beijerinckiaceae, Polyangiaceae, Bacillaceae and Ktedonobacteraceae. Our analysis suggests that the phyllosphere may be an important source of airborne bacteria in the Amazon rainforest. We also used traditional cultivation-based approaches to investigate the taxonomy of culturable organisms in the Amazon rainforest aerosols. Culturable bacteria were mainly from spore forming clades such as Bacillus and Streptomyces. Part of the isolates were able to produce antibiotic substances against bacterial human pathogens. Hence, the Amazon rainforest atmosphere may also be a source of bacteria with biotechnological traits.