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Temporal variability and effect of environmental variables on airborne bacterial communities in an urban area of Northern Italy

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

Despite airborne microorganisms representing a relevant fraction of atmospheric suspended particles, only a small amount of information is currently available on their abundance and diversity and very few studies have investigated the environmental factors influencing the structure of airborne bacterial communities. In this work, we used quantitative PCR and Illumina technology to provide a thorough description of airborne bacterial communities in the urban area of Milan (Italy). Forty samples were collected in 10-day sampling sessions, with one session per season. The mean bacterial abundance was about 104 ribosomal operons per m3 of air and was lower in winter than in the other seasons. Communities were dominated by Actinobacteridae, Clostridiales, Sphingobacteriales and few proteobacterial orders (Burkholderiales, Rhizobiales, Sphingomonadales and Pseudomonadales). Chloroplasts were abundant in all samples. A higher abundance of Actinobacteridae, which are typical soil-inhabiting bacteria, and a lower abundance of chloroplasts in samples collected on cold days were observed. The variation in community composition observed within seasons was comparable to that observed between seasons, thus suggesting that airborne bacterial communities show large temporal variability, even between consecutive days. The structure of airborne bacterial communities therefore suggests that soil and plants are the sources which contribute most to the airborne communities of Milan atmosphere, but the structure of the bacterial community seems to depend mainly on the source of bacteria that predominates in a given period of time.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by Cariplo Foundation (Milan, Italy) in the frame of the project TOSCA (Toxicity of particulate matter and molecular markers of risk). The authors thank Rocco Piazza and Alessandra Pirola for the DNA sequencing and bioinformatics support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. POLARIS Research Centre, Department of Environmental Sciences (DISAT), University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 1, 20126, Milan, Italy

    Valentina Bertolini, Isabella Gandolfi, Giuseppina Bestetti & Andrea Franzetti

  2. Department of Biotechnology and Biosciences, University of Milano-Bicocca, Piazza della Scienza 2, 20126, Milan, Italy

    Roberto Ambrosini

  3. Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, University of Ca’ Foscari, Dorsoduro 2137, 30123, Venice, Italy

    Elena Innocente & Giancarlo Rampazzo

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  1. Valentina Bertolini
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  2. Isabella Gandolfi
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  3. Roberto Ambrosini
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  4. Giuseppina Bestetti
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  5. Elena Innocente
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  7. Andrea Franzetti
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Correspondence to Isabella Gandolfi.

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Bertolini, V., Gandolfi, I., Ambrosini, R. et al. Temporal variability and effect of environmental variables on airborne bacterial communities in an urban area of Northern Italy. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 97, 6561–6570 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-012-4450-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-012-4450-0

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