Waters Samantha Marie, Purdue S K, Armstrong R, Detrés Y
Universities Space Research Association, Space Biosciences Division, Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA.
Atmospheric Science, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL 33149, USA.
FEMS Microbiol Lett. 2020 Apr 1;367(7). doi: 10.1093/femsle/fnaa051.
African dust from the Sahara and Sahel regions of Northern Africa is blown intercontinental distances and is the highest portion of atmospheric dust generated each year. During the Northern Hemisphere summer months (boreal summer), these dust events travel into the Caribbean and southern United States. While viability assays, microscopy and bacterial amplicon analyses have shown that dust-associated microbes may be diverse, the specific microbial taxa that are transported intercontinental distances with these dust events remain poorly characterized. To provide new insights into these issues, five metagenomes of Saharan dust events occurring in the Caribbean, collected in the summer months of 2002 and 2008, were analyzed. The data revealed that similar microbial composition existed between three out of the five of the distinct dust events and that fungi were a prominent feature of the metagenomes compared to other environmental samples. These results have implications for better understanding of microbial transport through the atmosphere and may implicate that the dust-associated microbial load transiting the Atlantic with Saharan dust is similar from year to year.
来自北非撒哈拉和萨赫勒地区的非洲沙尘被吹送到洲际距离，是每年大气尘埃中占比最高的部分。在北半球夏季（北方夏季），这些沙尘事件会进入加勒比地区和美国南部。虽然生存能力检测、显微镜检查和细菌扩增子分析表明，与沙尘相关的微生物可能多种多样，但随着这些沙尘事件进行洲际传输的特定微生物类群仍未得到充分表征。为了对这些问题提供新的见解，我们分析了2002年和2008年夏季在加勒比地区收集的五次撒哈拉沙尘事件的宏基因组。数据显示，五次不同沙尘事件中的三次存在相似的微生物组成，并且与其他环境样本相比，真菌是宏基因组的一个显著特征。这些结果对于更好地理解微生物在大气中的传输具有重要意义，并且可能意味着每年随撒哈拉沙尘穿越大西洋的与沙尘相关的微生物负荷相似。
