Active and diverse rainwater bacteria collected at an inland site in spring and summer 2011

Rainwater is an important natural resource and utilized for various beneficial purposes. However, information on prokaryotes in rainwater is limited. Rainwater samples were collected during three heavy rain events at a suburban site in Seoul in April, May, and July 2011. The highest bacterial abunda...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atmospheric environment (1994) 2014-09, Vol.94, p.409-416
Main Authors: Cho, Byung Cheol, Jang, Gwang Il
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abundance
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied sciences
Atmospheric pollution
Bacteria
Biological and medical sciences
Community composition
Escherichia
Exact sciences and technology
Firmicutes
Flavobacteria
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Microbial ecology
Pollutants physicochemistry study: properties, effects, reactions, transport and distribution
Pollution
Pyrosequencing
Rainwater
Various environments (extraatmospheric space, air, water)
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Summary:Rainwater is an important natural resource and utilized for various beneficial purposes. However, information on prokaryotes in rainwater is limited. Rainwater samples were collected during three heavy rain events at a suburban site in Seoul in April, May, and July 2011. The highest bacterial abundance (BA) in rainwater was observed in April when airborne bacteria had also been abundant the day before rainwater collection. ATP content in bacterial fraction of the rainwater suggested that the rainwater bacteria were metabolically active. Bacterial community compositions (BCCs) of rainwater samples, analyzed by using 16S rRNA gene-based pyrosequencing, differed considerably among the three rain events. Rainwater bacteria showed potentials of fast growth and drastic shift after incubation in BCCs from fresh rainwater at broad taxonomic levels and the dominant operational taxonomic units (OTUs) level. Presumable marine bacterial OTUs which formed a robust clade with marine bacteria Lacinutrix spp. were at high concentrations in rainwater in April, likely reflecting origin from saline environments. Most of the Flavobacteria sequences unusually high in April rainwater seemed to have marine origins. Further, spore-forming euryhaline marine Firmicutes were isolated from rainwater samples, suggesting possible dispersal of some marine bacteria via rain. A potential human pathogen and Escherichia coli-like sequences were detected in rainwater samples, calling for the need for assessment of health risks of collected rainwater. •Rainwater bacteria were metabolically active based on per-cell ATP content.•Diverse bacteria sequences were found in rainwater using 16S rRNA pyrosequencing.•Drastic shift of bacterial compositions were found after incubation of rainwater.•A potential human pathogen and Escherichia coli-like sequences were detected in rainwater.•Some marine bacteria (MB) were spread via rain; many MB-like reads found in April.
ISSN:1352-2310
1873-2844
DOI:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.05.048