Indoor fungal composition is geographically patterned and more diverse in temperate zones than in the tropics.

ABSTRACT: Fungi are ubiquitous components of indoor human environments, where most contact between humans and microbes occurs. The majority of these organisms apparently play a neutral role, but some are detrimental to human lifestyles and health. Recent studies that used culture-independent sampling methods demonstrated a high diversity of indoor fungi distinct from that of outdoor environments. Others have shown temporal fluctuations of fungal assemblages in human environments and modest correlations with human activity, but global-scale patterns have not been examined, despite the manifest significance of biogeography in other microbial systems. Here we present a global survey of fungi from indoor environments (n = 72), using both taxonomic and phylogeny-informative molecular markers to determine

SUBMITTER: Amend AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2922287 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature