ArticlePloS one2014
Architectural design drives the biogeography of indoor bacterial communities.
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 96 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
96 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 250 citations in OpenAlex.
- Microbiota of the indoor environment: a meta-analysis.Microbiome · 2015Pooled it
- The Biofilm Plight in Healthcare: Orchestration and Control by Lactiplantibacillus plantarum.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2026Review
- Cleaning reshapes bacterial communities in public toilets through disturbance and random reassembly.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Household environmental characteristics influence the house dust metagenome.Environmental research · 2026Article
- Exposures in Indoor Air Affecting Health.Allergy · 2026Review
- Microbiome stewardship: definition and guiding principles for implementation.Sustainable microbiology · 2026Article
- Shape of the association between endotoxin in school dust and children's lung function.ERJ open research · 2025Article
- Impact of shared spaces and daily routines on shared microbiome.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Determination of the indoor air bacterial load and associated factors in primary schools in Hawassa City, Ethiopia, 2023. A comparative -cross-sectional study.Multidisciplinary respiratory medicine · 2025Article
- The effect of sample type and location on industrial workplace sink and hand dryer microbiomes.BMC microbiology · 2025Article
- How the Built Environment Shapes Children's Microbiome: A Systematic Review.Microorganisms · 2025Review
- An interdisciplinary perspective of the built-environment microbiome.FEMS microbiology ecology · 2025Review
- A microbial symphony: a literature review of the factors that orchestrate the colonization dynamics of the human colonic microbiome during infancy and implications for future health.Microbiome research reports · 2025Review
- Microbiological indoor air quality and associated factors in private clinics of Harar Town, Eastern Ethiopia.Multidisciplinary respiratory medicine · 2024Article
- Evaluation of Aging Effect on the Durability of Antibacterial Treatments Applied on Textile Materials for the Automotive Industry.ACS omega · 2024Article
- The potential importance of the built-environment microbiome and its impact on human health.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Surveillance of Bacterial Load and Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria on Surfaces of Public Restrooms.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Lactic acid bacteria biofilms and their antimicrobial potential against pathogenic microorganisms.Biofilm · 2023Review
- Indoor Airborne Microbiome and Endotoxin: Meteorological Events and Occupant Characteristics Are Important Determinants.Environmental science & technology · 2023Article
- Association between Residential Greenness and Human Microbiota: Evidence from Multiple Countries.Environmental health perspectives · 2023Article
36 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundArchitectural design has the potential to influence the microbiology of the built environment, with implications for human health and well-being, but the impact of design on the microbial biogeography of buildings remains poorly understood. In this study we combined microbiological data with information on the function, form, and organization of spaces from a classroom and office building to understand how design choices influence the biogeography of the built environment microbiome.
resultsSequencing of the bacterial 16S gene from dust samples revealed that indoor bacterial communities were extremely diverse, containing more than 32,750 OTUs (operational taxonomic units, 97% sequence similarity cutoff), but most communities were dominated by Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Deinococci. Architectural design characteristics related to space type, building arrangement, human use and movement, and ventilation source had a large influence on the structure of bacterial communities. Restrooms contained bacterial communities that were highly distinct from all other rooms, and spaces with high human occupant diversity and a high degree of connectedness to other spaces via ventilation or human movement contained a distinct set of bacterial taxa when compared to spaces with low occupant diversity and low connectedness. Within offices, the source of ventilation air had the greatest effect on bacterial community structure.
conclusionsOur study indicates that humans have a guiding impact on the microbial biodiversity in buildings, both indirectly through the effects of architectural design on microbial community structure, and more directly through the effects of human occupancy and use patterns on the microbes found in different spaces and space types. The impact of design decisions in structuring the indoor microbiome offers the possibility to use ecological knowledge to shape our buildings in a way that will select for an indoor microbiome that promotes our health and well-being.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.