AAAR 31st Annual Conference
October 8-12, 2012
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Phylogenetic-based Fungal Population Comparisons of Dust Collected from Water-damaged and Nonwater-Damaged Homes
KAREN DANNEMILLER, Jordan Peccia, Yale University
Abstract Number: 327 Working Group: The Indoor Microbiome
Abstract The presence of dampness or visible mold in homes is a consistent risk factor for respiratory infection in children, and is associated with the development of asthma, asthma exacerbation, and allergic rhinitis. The quantity and diversity of fungi in house dust has commonly been measured using culture-based techniques, which are known to introduce biases due to the unknown viability and limited culturability of allergenic fungal fragments. This work seeks to improve current fungal allergen quantity and diversity assessment in homes by using DNA-based, phylogenetic techniques. The main objective of this work is to produce quantitative, molecular-based microbial diversity descriptions of indoor dust samples collected from 200 homes in the Northeastern US. Many of these homes have documented water damage or mold growth, thus allowing for a comparative assessment. Phylogenetic libraries were created using 454 pyrosequencing of extracted DNA from all samples and by targeting both the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) genetic region for accurate species-level identification, and the rRNA large subunit (LSU) gene region to allow for alignment and comparison of populations based on phylogenetic distances. In addition, six selected species, human DNA, and universal fungal genomes were quantified by qPCR. Results will be presented that reveal associations between water and non-water-damaged homes both in terms of overall population differences, as well as statistical determination of species that are uniquely associated with water damage. Beyond these tangible outcomes, this work will provide information towards the establishment of safe mold level guidelines that reduce the risks of allergenic, infectious, and asthmatic disease.