Spatio-temporal variations in bacterial and fungal community associated with dust aerosol in Kuwait.

ABSTRACT: Kuwait is a country with a very high dust loading; in fact it bears the world's highest particulate matter concentration in the outdoor air. The airborne dust often has associated biological materials, including pathogenic microbes that pose a serious risk to the urban ecosystem and public health. This study has established the baseline taxonomic characterization of microbes associated with dust transported into Kuwait from different trajectories. A high volume air sampler with six-stage cascade impactor was deployed for sample collection at a remote as well as an urban site. Samples from three different seasons (autumn, spring and summer) were subjected to targeted amplicon sequencing. A set of ~ 50 and 60 bacterial and fungal genera, respectively, established the core air microbiome. The

SUBMITTER: Al Salameen F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7644028 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature