Bioaerosol Generation by Raindrops on Soil

Overview

Journal Nat Commun

Specialty Biology

Date 2017 Mar 8

PMID 28267145

Citations 49

Authors

Young Soo Joung

Zhifei Ge

Cullen R Buie

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Aerosolized microorganisms may play an important role in climate change, disease transmission, water and soil contaminants, and geographic migration of microbes. While it is known that bioaerosols are generated when bubbles break on the surface of water containing microbes, it is largely unclear how viable soil-based microbes are transferred to the atmosphere. Here we report a previously unknown mechanism by which rain disperses soil bacteria into the air. Bubbles, tens of micrometres in size, formed inside the raindrops disperse micro-droplets containing soil bacteria during raindrop impingement. A single raindrop can transfer 0.01% of bacteria on the soil surface and the bacteria can survive more than one hour after the aerosol generation process. This work further reveals that bacteria transfer by rain is highly dependent on the regional soil profile and climate conditions.

Citing Articles

Microbial richness and air chemistry in aerosols above the PBL confirm 2,000-km long-distance transport of potential human pathogens.

Rodo X, Pozdniakova S, Borras S, Matsuki A, Tanimoto H, Armengol M Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2024; 121(38):e2404191121.

PMID: 39250672 PMC: 11420185. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2404191121.

Who inhabits the built environment? A microbiological point of view on the principal bacteria colonizing our urban areas.

Zampolli J, De Giani A, Rossi M, Finazzi M, Di Gennaro P Front Microbiol. 2024; 15:1380953.

PMID: 38863750 PMC: 11165352. DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1380953.

Needle bacterial community structure across the species range of limber pine.

Carper D, Lawrence T, Quiroz D, Kueppers L, Frank A ISME Commun. 2024; 4(1):ycae062.

PMID: 38800125 PMC: 11128189. DOI: 10.1093/ismeco/ycae062.

The Chemical Landscape of Leaf Surfaces and Its Interaction with the Atmosphere.

Ossola R, Farmer D Chem Rev. 2024; 124(9):5764-5794.

PMID: 38652704 PMC: 11082906. DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.3c00763.

Study on the concentration, composition, and recovery rate of bacterial bioaerosols after rainfall in Ho Chi Minh City.

Nga D, Nhung V, Nhan N, Hien T Environ Monit Assess. 2024; 196(3):295.

PMID: 38383896 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-024-12442-3.

References

Gauthier-Levesque L, Bonifait L, Turgeon N, Veillette M, Perrott P, Grenier D . Impact of serotype and sequence type on the preferential aerosolization of Streptococcus suis. BMC Res Notes. 2016; 9:273. PMC: 4868011. DOI: 10.1186/s13104-016-2073-8. View

Teltsch B, KATZENELSON E . Airborne enteric bacteria and viruses from spray irrigation with wastewater. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1978; 35(2):290-6. PMC: 242828. DOI: 10.1128/aem.35.2.290-296.1978. View

Nguyen T, Ilef D, Jarraud S, Rouil L, Campese C, Che D . A community-wide outbreak of legionnaires disease linked to industrial cooling towers--how far can contaminated aerosols spread?. J Infect Dis. 2005; 193(1):102-11. DOI: 10.1086/498575. View

Cox C . The aerosol survival and cause of death of Escherichia coli K12. J Gen Microbiol. 1968; 54(2):169-75. DOI: 10.1099/00221287-54-2-169. View

Stevens B, Boucher O . Climate science: The aerosol effect. Nature. 2012; 490(7418):40-1. DOI: 10.1038/490040a. View

Fierer N, Liu Z, Rodriguez-Hernandez M, Knight R, Henn M, Hernandez M . Short-term temporal variability in airborne bacterial and fungal populations. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2007; 74(1):200-7. PMC: 2223228. DOI: 10.1128/AEM.01467-07. View

Douwes J, Thorne P, Pearce N, Heederik D . Bioaerosol health effects and exposure assessment: progress and prospects. Ann Occup Hyg. 2003; 47(3):187-200. DOI: 10.1093/annhyg/meg032. View

Cowling B, Ip D, Fang V, Suntarattiwong P, Olsen S, Levy J . Aerosol transmission is an important mode of influenza A virus spread. Nat Commun. 2013; 4:1935. PMC: 3682679. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2922. View

Bardgett R, van der Putten W . Belowground biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. Nature. 2014; 515(7528):505-11. DOI: 10.1038/nature13855. View

10.

van der Rest M, Lange C, Molenaar D . A heat shock following electroporation induces highly efficient transformation of Corynebacterium glutamicum with xenogeneic plasmid DNA. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 1999; 52(4):541-5. DOI: 10.1007/s002530051557. View

11.

Carslaw K, Lee L, Reddington C, Pringle K, Rap A, Forster P . Large contribution of natural aerosols to uncertainty in indirect forcing. Nature. 2013; 503(7474):67-71. DOI: 10.1038/nature12674. View

12.

Thoroddsen S, Thoraval M, Takehara K, Etoh T . Droplet splashing by a slingshot mechanism. Phys Rev Lett. 2011; 106(3):034501. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.034501. View

13.

Fahlgren C, Gomez-Consarnau L, Zabori J, Lindh M, Krejci R, Martensson E . Seawater mesocosm experiments in the Arctic uncover differential transfer of marine bacteria to aerosols. Environ Microbiol Rep. 2015; 7(3):460-70. DOI: 10.1111/1758-2229.12273. View

14.

Bowers R, Lauber C, Wiedinmyer C, Hamady M, Hallar A, Fall R . Characterization of airborne microbial communities at a high-elevation site and their potential to act as atmospheric ice nuclei. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2009; 75(15):5121-30. PMC: 2725505. DOI: 10.1128/AEM.00447-09. View

15.

Blanchard D . Sea-to-Air Transport of Surface Active Material. Science. 1964; 146(3642):396-7. DOI: 10.1126/science.146.3642.396. View

16.

Christner B, Morris C, Foreman C, Cai R, Sands D . Ubiquity of biological ice nucleators in snowfall. Science. 2008; 319(5867):1214. DOI: 10.1126/science.1149757. View

17.

Joung Y, Buie C . Scaling laws for drop impingement on porous films and papers. Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2014; 89(1):013015. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.89.013015. View

18.

Wiersinga W, van der Poll T, White N, Day N, Peacock S . Melioidosis: insights into the pathogenicity of Burkholderia pseudomallei. Nat Rev Microbiol. 2006; 4(4):272-82. DOI: 10.1038/nrmicro1385. View

19.

Marthi B, Fieland V, Walter M, Seidler R . Survival of bacteria during aerosolization. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1990; 56(11):3463-7. PMC: 184985. DOI: 10.1128/aem.56.11.3463-3467.1990. View

20.

Joung Y, Buie C . Aerosol generation by raindrop impact on soil. Nat Commun. 2015; 6:6083. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms7083. View