Microbes in our home

I thought I would spark off this blog again with a small piece on an interesting recent study carried out by scientists in the USA. http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/282/1814/20151139. As part of their work, they looked at the different populations of microbes that were found in the dust sent in from almost 1200 homes. It may not be ground-breaking science but the work shows what microbial diversity can exist in our homes, a place we spend the majority of our time. If nothing else it’s always nice to know who you are living with!

What was cool is that homes could be separated based on whether it was men or women living in them. The results showed higher amounts of bacteria called Roseburia in the male homes. This bacterium is commonly found in our gut and thought to play a healthy role. The male homes also saw more Corynebacterium and Dermabacter which are bacteria found on the skin. In the female homes, there was a higher level Lactobacilli. While found throughout the gut it is also the predominant bacteria found in a healthy vagina. The main reason thought to be for the differences seen is simply down to different hygiene practices.

Of course bacteria were not the only microbes found and lots of different types of fungi were also found. The types of fungi changed depending on which part of the country the dust samples came from.

The biggest difference between houses was seen if you owned a pet or not. There were 56 types of bacteria that were found more in the homes with a pet than without. From the data the researchers were actually able to tell you whether it was a cat or a dog living in the home. These pets were leaving their own fingerprint of microbes around the house.

As a side thought on the whole study, I see that the work was part of a citizen science project that asked for people to send in samples http://homes.yourwildlife.org/. This is a great way to get people involved in science however I find it odd that the results are then published in a closed journal rather than open source. Perhaps that’s a debate for another day…