Longitudinal bacterial community dynamics and sodium hypochlorite intervention in a newly built university building

Withey, Z. and Gweon, H. S. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6218-6301 (2024) Longitudinal bacterial community dynamics and sodium hypochlorite intervention in a newly built university building. Science of the Total Environment, 950. 175349. ISSN 1879-1026 doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175349

Abstract/Summary

Urbanisation and building advancements have increased microbial growth in indoor environments, altering human interactions with these microorganisms. Restrooms and their sinks harbour diverse bacterial communities, that differ from those found in natural environments, that could have negative implications for human health. Over two and a half years, this study examined the diversity, temporal dynamics, and resilience of bacterial communities in restroom sink P-traps in a newly built university building. Structured into two phases, the first phase consisted of continuous monitoring of bacterial community dynamics for two years (n = 352), while the second phase involved an intervention with sodium hypochlorite (bleach) and subsequent sampling (n = 132). In the first phase, we show that sink communities converge, becoming more compositionally similar to other sinks within the building. Bacterial families such as Rhodocyclaceae and Flavobacteriaceae dominated across the sinks, and others such as Comamonadaceae, Moraxellaceae and Enterbacteriaceae were highly prevalent. When comparing bacterial structure and composition to other sinks located on the university campus, the mean bacterial dissimilarity decreased over time, indicating compositional similarity, particularly with the newer buildings on campus. The second phase demonstrated resilience by the bacterial sink communities. Following bleach treatments, a distinct increase in Acinetobacter was observed. However, by the fourth week after bleach invention, bacterial communities had re-established to levels observed prior to treatment. This study had the unique opportunity to sample a newly built building before occupancy and for the subsequent two and a half years. The findings provide crucial insights into the development and resilience of sink P-trap bacterial communities in restrooms, laying the groundwork for more targeted approaches to disinfection strategies.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/117667
Identification Number/DOI	10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.175349
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Life Sciences > School of Biological Sciences > Biomedical Sciences Life Sciences > School of Biological Sciences > Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Publisher	Elsevier
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