AAAR 32nd Annual Conference
September 30 - October 4, 2013
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Bacterial Bioaerosol Enrichment Downwind from a Conventional Wastewater Aeration Basin Manifests from Selective Actinomycete Partitioning
Mark T. Hernandez, JANE TURNER, Charles Robertson, Odessa Gomez, Alison L. Ling, Bharath Prithiviraj, J. Kirk Harris, Daniel N. Frank, Alina M. Handorean, Norman R. Pace, University of Colorado at Boulder
Abstract Number: 655 Working Group: Urban Aerosols
Abstract Over a period of eleven days, size segregated aerosols were collected in consecutive 24 hour sampling campaigns, which were simultaneously executed upwind and downwind of a conventional activated sludge wastewater treatment plant. Airborne particulate matter was separated by mean aerodynamic diameter and continually impacted on polycarbonate filters, which were subsequently extracted with ethanol and chloroform to isolate and purify DNA. As judged by analyses of 16s rDNA sequences from an Illumina Miseq platform, airborne bacteria immediately downwind from the aeration basin was enriched with Actinomycetes when compared to the airborne microbes recovered upwind of this site. Concurrent DNA analyses of the activated sludge suggest that the aerated wastewater was the source of the airborne Actinomycetes, and that selected genera were selectively partitioning into a local bioaerosol which included, but was not limited to, Mycobacteria spp., Saccaropolyspora spp., and Streptomyces spp.. Laboratory studies using log-growth pure cultures of Mycobacterium parafortuitum and Psuedomonas aurigenosa as models, showed that M. parafortuitum cells have a markedly higher partitioning potential from warm, aerated waters than do P. aeruginosa cells. These results suggest than engineering works purposely designed to entrain air bubbles in temperate waters can induce a selective partitioning of bacteria into aerosols, and that bioaerosol partitioning potential is related to microbial physiology.