On the identification of culturable microorganisms for the assessment of biodiversity in bioaerosols

Abstract

The Annals of Work Exposures and Health recently published two interesting studies combining the use of culture and molecular methods. The method involves the cultivation of bioaerosol samples on agar media and the pick-up of grown colonies 16S rRNA gene amplification, subsequent cloning, sequencing, and identification of bacterial isolates through the assignment against known gene databases. The aim of the present paper is to discuss the contribution of the proposed method in regards with the already proposed approaches used for identification of cultured bacteria. It details the new proposed method and discusses its contribution to the existing culture-based identification methods. Such methods include macroscopic and microscopic observations, miniature biochemical tests (API® trips, VITEK 2® etc.), chemical methods such as the Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) and the Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time off light (MALDI-TOF) analysis as well polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by sequencing. The proposed method supplements the panel of existing biodiversity ones for cultivated bacteria, especially useful for infectious microorganisms, as well as culture-independent ones. As both culture-based and culture-independent methods could therefore be used for the characterization of the occupational environmental microbiome, further applications in other occupational environments as well as additional comparisons with both culture-based and culture-independent methods would complete its characterization.