1. Detection and molecular characterization of filamentous actinobacteria and thermoactinomycetes present in water-damaged building materials
- Author
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Peter Thompson, Hanna-Leena Alakomi, Outi Priha, Richard Stott, Maija-Liisa Suihko, Björn Mälarstig, and Malcolm Richardson
- Subjects
Nocardiopsis ,Environmental Engineering ,food.ingredient ,Molecular Sequence Data ,Ribotyping ,Streptomyces ,Microbiology ,Actinobacteria ,03 medical and health sciences ,food ,SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being ,16S rDNA ,RNA, Ribosomal, 16S ,Pseudonocardia ,Humans ,thermoactinomycetes ,030304 developmental biology ,automated ribotyping ,0303 health sciences ,biology ,Construction Materials ,030306 microbiology ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health ,actinobacteria ,Micromonosporaceae ,Building and Construction ,biology.organism_classification ,water-damaged buildings ,Floods ,3. Good health ,RNA, Bacterial ,Thermoactinomyces ,Streptomyces microflavus ,Housing ,Streptomyces griseus - Abstract
UNLABELLED In this study the dominant filamentous actinobacteria occurring in water-damaged building materials were detected by culture and characterized by automated ribotyping and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Fifty-two samples were taken from 20 water-damaged houses in four different countries. A total of 122 bacterial isolates were analyzed. Actinobacteria or thermoactinomycetes were present in 48% of the samples. The dominant genus was Streptomyces (58% of isolates), followed by Thermoactinomyces (23%), Laceyella (14%), Nocardiopsis (3%), Pseudonocardia (1%) and Saccharomonospora (1%). The most frequently detected species was the thermophilic Thermoactinomyces vulgaris (14 samples/4 countries). The most common streptomycetes were closely related to the heterogeneous species Streptomyces microflavus (7/2) or Streptomyces griseus (6/2). Automated ribotyping was a rapid tool for reliable characterization of these isolates. The spores of thermoactinomycetes and toxic substances of Nocardiopsis species and S. griseus may constitute a risk for human health. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS Harmful microbes in indoor environments are a cause of public concern. To develop rapid and simple-to-use molecular biological methods to detect the presence of harmful actinobacterial species in water-damaged buildings more information about their occurrence in those materials is needed, which this study provides. more...
- Published
- 2009
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