The Cloud seems to be everywhere these days: On your computer, phones, and now, your very own body. Well, sort of—because according to research out of the University of Oregon, every human possesses their own microbial cloud. (Sorry, germophobes.)
As it turns out, every human gives off millions of bacteria into the air every day, and this “aura” is unique to each person. The researchers demonstrated this after studying the air around 11 subjects, according to a press release.
The participants sat alone inside a sanitized chamber, each emitting a unique combination of bacteria. Most of the subjects could be identified by their cloud within four hours, specifically by several groups of bacteria: Streptococcus (usually found in the mouth), Propionibacterium (found on skin), and Corynebacterium (also skin). All participants had these bacteria, but the various combinations served to distinguish each person.
The cloud bacteria were analyzed via short-read 16S sequencing—an analysis of bacterial genes in order to identify different bacteria types, used in this case to identify entire bacterial communities in lieu of specific pathogens. More than 14 million gene sequences were run, spread out between 312 air and dust samples.
Your mom was right: You are unique!
“We expected that we would be able to detect the human microbiome in the air around a person, but we were surprised to find that we could identify most of the occupants just by sampling their microbial cloud,” said lead author James F. Meadow, a postdoctoral researcher formerly from the Biology and the Built Environment Center at the University of Oregon.
“[O]ur study suggests that bacterial emissions from a relatively inactive person, sitting at a desk for instance, have a strong influence on the bacteria circulating in an enclosed space and on surrounding surfaces.”
This information—although from a small sample size—sheds a new light on how an individual’s microbiome (bacteria) can spread to the surrounding environment. This means we may have a new mechanism for understanding the spread of infectious diseases, and may even have forensic applications by allowing scientists to trace where someone has been.
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Feature Image: Thinkstock
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