Dataset Information

Enriching Beneficial Microbial Diversity of Indoor Plants and Their Surrounding Built Environment With Biostimulants.

ABSTRACT: Microbial diversity is suggested as the key for plant and human health. However, how microbial diversity can be enriched is largely unknown but of great interest for health issues. Biostimulants offer the way to directly augment our main living areas by the healthy microbiome of indoor plants. Here, we investigated shifts of the microbiome on leaves of spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum) and its surrounding abiotic surfaces in the built environment after irrigation with a vermicompost-based biostimulant for 12 weeks. The biostimulant could not only promote plant growth, but changed the composition of the microbiome and abundance of intact microbial cells on plant leaves and even stronger on abiotic surfaces in close vicinity under constant conditions of the microclimate. Biostimulant treatments stabilized microbial diversity and resulted in an increase of Bacteroidetes and a surprising transient emerge of new phyla, e.g., Verrucomicrobia, Acidobacteria, and Thaumarchaeota. The proportion of potentially beneficial microorganisms like Brevibacillus, Actinoallomurus, Paenibacillus, Sphaerisporangium increased relatively; microbial diversity was stabilized, and the built environment became more plant-like. Detected metabolites like indole-3-acetic acid in the biostimulant were potentially contributed by species of Pseudomonas. Overall, effects of the biostimulant on the composition of the microbiome could be predicted with an accuracy of 87%. This study shows the potential of biostimulants not only for the plant itself, but also for other living holobionts like humans in the surrounding environment.

SUBMITTER: Mahnert A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6290261 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Enriching Beneficial Microbial Diversity of Indoor Plants and Their Surrounding Built Environment With Biostimulants.

Mahnert Alexander A Haratani Marika M Schmuck Maria M Berg Gabriele G

Frontiers in microbiology 20181205

Microbial diversity is suggested as the key for plant and human health. However, how microbial diversity can be enriched is largely unknown but of great interest for health issues. Biostimulants offer the way to directly augment our main living areas by the healthy microbiome of indoor plants. Here, we investigated shifts of the microbiome on leaves of spider plants (<i>Chlorophytum comosum</i>) and its surrounding abiotic surfaces in the built environment after irrigation with a vermicompost-ba ...[more]

PMID: 30568641

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Project description:There is international consensus that damp buildings and indoor mould can increase the risk of asthma, rhinitis, bronchitis and respiratory tract infections but we do not know which types of microbial agents that are causing the observed adverse health effects. Microbial indoor exposure is a broader concept than microbial growth in buildings. Other sources of indoor microbial exposure include the outdoor environment, humans (crowdedness) and furry pet keeping. Microbial exposure can have different health effects depending on the dose, different exposure route, genetic disposition and the timing of exposure. Microbial stimulation linked to large microbial diversity in early life can protect against disease development, especially for allergic asthma and atopy. Protective effects are more often reported for bacterial exposure and adverse health effects are more often linked to mould exposure. There are many studies on health associations for indoor exposure to endotoxin, mainly from homes. The risk of getting atopic asthma may be less if you are exposed to endotoxin in childhood but the risk of non-atopic asthma may increase if exposed to endotoxin especially in adulthood. Moreover, genetic disposition modifies health effects of endotoxin. Epidemiological studies on muramic acid (from gram-positive bacteria) or ergosterol (from mould) are few. Studies on health effects of indoor exposure to beta-1-3-glucan (from mould) have conflicting results (positive as well as negative associations). Epidemiological studies on health effects of indoor exposure to mycotoxins are very few. Some studies have reported health associations for MVOC, but it is unclear to what extent MVOC has microbial sources in indoor environments. Many studies have reported health associations for fungal DNA, especially as a risk factor for childhood asthma at home. Since most studies on health effects of indoor exposure to mould, bacteria and microbial agents are cross-sectional, it is difficult to draw conclusions on causality. More prospective studies on indoor microbial exposure are needed and studies should include other indoor environments than homes, such as day care centers, schools, hospitals and offices.

Project description:BACKGROUND: We spend most of our lives in indoor environments and are exposed to microbes present in these environments. Hence, knowledge about this exposure is important for understanding how it impacts on human health. However, the bacterial flora in indoor environments has been only fragmentarily explored and mostly using culture methods. The application of molecular methods previously utilised in other environments has resulted in a substantial increase in our awareness of microbial diversity. RESULTS: The composition and dynamics of indoor dust bacterial flora were investigated in two buildings over a period of one year. Four samples were taken in each building, corresponding to the four seasons, and 16S rDNA libraries were constructed. A total of 893 clones were analysed and 283 distinct operational taxonomic units (OTUs) detected among them using 97% sequence similarity as the criterion. All libraries were dominated by Gram-positive sequences, with the most abundant phylum being Firmicutes. Four OTUs having high similarity to Corynebacterium-, Propionibacterium-, Streptococcus- and Staphylococcus- sequences were present in all samples. The most abundant of the Gram-negative OTUs were members of the family Sphingomonadaceae, followed by Oxalobacteraceae, Comamonadaceae, Neisseriaceae and Rhizobiaceae. The relative abundance of alpha- and betaproteobacteria increased slightly towards summer at the expense of firmicutes. The proportion of firmicutes and gammaproteobacteria of the total diversity was highest in winter and that of actinobacteria, alpha- and betaproteobacteria in spring or summer, whereas the diversity of bacteroidetes peaked in fall. A statistical comparison of the libraries revealed that the bacterial flora of the two buildings differed during all seasons except spring, but differences between seasons within one building were not that clear, indicating that differences between the buildings were greater than the differences between seasons. CONCLUSION: This work demonstrated that the bacterial flora of indoor dust is complex and dominated by Gram-positive species. The dominant phylotypes most probably originated from users of the building. Seasonal variation was observed as proportional changes of the phyla and at the species level. The microflora of the two buildings investigated differed statistically and differences between the buildings were more pronounced than differences between seasons.

Dataset Information

Enriching Beneficial Microbial Diversity of Indoor Plants and Their Surrounding Built Environment With Biostimulants.

Publications

Enriching Beneficial Microbial Diversity of Indoor Plants and Their Surrounding Built Environment With Biostimulants.

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