Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, 473 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
The Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
FEMS Microbiol Ecol. 2018 Mar 1;94(3). doi: 10.1093/femsec/fiy005.
We characterized the microbial communities in sea spray aerosols (SSA), water and sand of three beaches in central California (Cowell Beach, Baker Beach and Lovers Point) by sequencing the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. Average concentrations of 16S rRNA genes in SSA ranged from 2.4 × 104 to 1.4 × 105 gene copies per m3 of air. A total of 9781 distinct OTUs were identified in SSA and of these, 1042 OTUs were found in SSA of all beaches. SSA microbial communities included marine taxa, as well as some associated with the terrestrial environment. SSA taxa included organisms that play important roles in biogeochemical cycling of elements such as Planctomyces and Synechococcus, as well as those representing potential pathogens and fecal indicator bacteria including Staphylococcus epidermidis and Enterococcus spp. There were a large number of shared OTUs among SSA and water, and there was relatively high similarity between SSA and water communities. Results are consistent with a conceptual model where SSA is generated by breaking waves and bubble bursting in marine waters and that enables the transport of microorganisms from the sea to sand or other environments.
我们通过对海雾气溶胶（SSA）、水和加利福尼亚州中部三个海滩（考威尔海滩、贝克海滩和情人角）的沙粒中的 16S rRNA 基因 V4 区进行测序，对其微生物群落进行了特征描述。SSA 中 16S rRNA 基因的平均浓度范围为每立方米空气中 2.4×104 到 1.4×105 个基因拷贝。在 SSA 中共鉴定出 9781 个独特的 OTU，其中 1042 个 OTU 存在于所有海滩的 SSA 中。SSA 微生物群落包括海洋分类群，以及一些与陆地环境相关的分类群。SSA 分类群包括在元素生物地球化学循环中发挥重要作用的生物体，如 Planctomyces 和 Synechococcus，以及那些代表潜在病原体和粪便指示菌的生物体，如表皮葡萄球菌和肠球菌属。SSA 和水之间有大量的共有 OTU，并且 SSA 和水群落之间具有相对较高的相似性。结果与一个概念模型一致，即 SSA 是由海浪破碎和海洋水中的气泡破裂产生的，这使得微生物能够从海洋运输到沙子或其他环境中。
