Molecular Genetic Analysis of Biological Atmospheric Aerosol Particles

该项目的主要目标是开发和应用分子遗传学方法来分析大气中的生物气溶胶颗粒(细菌、真菌、植物和动物碎片)。在过去的几年里，已经很清楚，生物颗粒可能会强烈地影响气溶胶对大气化学和物理、气候和公共健康的影响。然而，到目前为止，大气中生物颗粒的丰度、多样性、来源、性质和影响还没有得到很好的表征和量化。这在很大程度上是由于缺乏有效的测量方法。在大多数早期的研究中，已经应用了显微镜、蛋白质染色或空气中活微生物的培养。然而，这些方法不允许独立于颗粒大小、完整性和生存能力来全面表征生物材料的来源。相比之下，应用分子遗传学工具分析DNA提供了一种非常直接的方法，可以从活的和死亡的、完整的和碎片化的有机体中识别生物物质的来源。此外，DNA分析结合其他分子方法，如末端限制性片段长度多态性分析(T-RFLP)，也为估计不同物种的丰度和多样性提供了可能性。因此，我们计划开发和优化分子遗传学方法，以表征空气颗粒物过滤器和冲击器样品中的生物颗粒。我们计划将这些技术应用于一组精心挑选的气溶胶样本，以获得关于大气颗粒物生物组成的初步数据集。

The main goal of this project is the development and application of molecular genetic methods for the analysis of biological aerosol particles in the atmosphere (bacteria, fungi, plant and animal fragments). Over the past years it has become clear, that biological particles may strongly influence the effects of aerosols on atmospheric chemistry and physics, climate, and public health. So far, however, the abundance, diversity, sources, properties, and effects of biological particles in the atmosphere have not yet been well characterized and quantified. This is largely due to a lack of efficient measurement methods. In most earlier studies microscopy, protein staining, or the cultivation of viable airborne microorganisms have been applied. These methods, however, do not allow a comprehensive characterisation of the origin of biological materials independent of particle size, integrity, and viability. In contrast, the application of molecular genetic tools for the analysis of DNA offers a very straightforward way to identify the origin of biological matter from both living and dead, complete and fragmented organisms. Moreover, DNA analysis in combination with additional molecular methods, like terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis (T-RFLP), also provides the possibility of estimating the abundance and diversity of different species. Thus, we are planning to develop and optimize molecular genetic methods for the characterization of biological particles in filter and impactor samples of air particulate matter. We plan to apply these techniques to a set of carefully selected aerosol samples to obtain an initial data set on the biological composition of atmospheric particles.