Plant-associated microbial communities in indoor environment

Despite the fact that we spend the majority of our lifetime indoors, our knowledge about our microbial co-residents and their effect on our health is still very limited. Recently a paradigmatic change happened towards our view onto the microbial world: whereas previously the research focus was set on germs, nowadays we know that microbes harbor an impressive diversity and important functions for human beings and the environment. Albeit beneficial health-promoting effects of house plants were described previously, the structure and function of their microbiome the community of all microbes in a defined environment, is still unknown. Since more microbes live in and on house plants than people on the whole planet, we think that these microbes do not only have a direct impact on plant health, but also affect human health in an indirect manner. To comprehend the microbiology of our house plants, we will investigate on the one hand selected house plants grown under controlled conditions of greenhouses in the Botanical Garden Graz, and on the other hand we will explore house plants in more typical settings. By means of a library of specific biomarkers, correlation and network analyses, all complemented with microscopy, we will determine and compare the impact of different environmental factors onto the microbiome as well as its internal interactions. In order to reveal functions of the phyllosphere microbiome (all plant leaf associated microbes), we will study the genome content of three selected microbial communities in greater detail. Additional experiments will analyze characteristics of isolated microbes from plant leaves for plant health and will select most promising candidates for further studies. Hereby we want to design a targeted selection of beneficial microbes for healthy house plants. Further on, microbes of this assortment will be labeled and additionally investigated with special fluorescence probes to reveal microbial dispersal and its effects onto the microbiome in an indoor environment. Finally, the structural and functional stability of this model microbiome will be assessed under different environmental conditions. All results will be comparatively evaluated and our findings will give new insights into the relevance of microbiomes on house plants inside indoor environments.

Healthy indoor plants are good for human Antibiotics was one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century. In the past, some of common diseases such as strep throat and severe bacterial infection could cause serious complication. Fortunately, the diseases can be effectively treated with antibiotics. Nevertheless, antibiotics is "a double-edged sword". If antibiotics are used correctly, antibiotics can save human lives from the bacterial infection. On the other hand, misuse, and overuse of antibiotics by human behavior are associated to the emergence of antibiotic resistance bacteria. As part of this study, the Berg lab at Technical University of Graz, compared two different built environments. One group consists of built environment that supposed to be cleanest because the strict cleaning regime such as hospital and cleanroom facility whereas another group consists built environment that are less clean i.e. public and private buildings. This study Communication, indicated that excessive cleaning could promote the emergence of antibiotic resistance bacteria. Our behavior by excessively using disinfectants and antibiotics, have forced and selected bacteria with antibiotic resistance gene - tools that bacteria use so they can not be killed by antibiotics - and so called "superbugs". The superbugs even work together when we exposed them with disinfectant. Then, the following question is raised - "How can we reduce the emergence of the superbugs?" Microbial diversity can be the answer. Microbial diversity can be defined as the range of different kinds of bacteria, archaea, protists, and fungi. Use of disinfectants and antibiotics can decrease the microbial diversity by killing some of microbes, including those one that beneficial for us. Subsequently, those that survive can carry multiple antibiotic resistance gene and become the superbugs. We can avoid the loss of microbial diversity in our built environment by reducing the use of disinfectants and antibiotics. Alternative way, we (possibly) can restore the diversity by introducing indoor plants to our built environment. The parts of the plant that grow aboveground, called phyllosphere, have specific and diverse microbes that can be transferred to the surrounding environment. By introducing indoor plants to our built environment, we then can increase the microbial diversity and possibly counteracts the spread of resistances. Given the importance of indoor plant associated microbes, we further tested their beneficial function. Interestingly, some of microbes that we isolated from the indoor plants can inhibit growth of the superbugs. Indoor plants can be a carrier of beneficial bacteria that have ability to suppress the superbugs. So, take care your indoor plants because healthy indoor plants are good for us.