Our microbes quickly make themselves at home

Ever stopped to think about the microbes in your house? The Home Microbiome Project tracked seven households (including 15 adults, three children, three dogs and a cat) in the United States over the course of several weeks to find out more about how individuals affect the microbial communities in their homes, and found that we quickly leave the signature of our bacteria on household surfaces. “Each human maintains a specific microbial “fingerprint”, which should transfer to a new indoor space with skin shedding, respiratory activity, and skin-surface contact, the latter of which can transfer millions of microbial cells per event,” noted the authors recently in the journal Science

The study, led by the University of Chicago, examined microbes collected with swabs from the human participants’ hands, feet and noses and from household surfaces such as doorknobs, countertops and floors.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the research found that humans are bacterial vectors in their own ‘home microbiomes’, but what stood out was how quickly we appear to influence our microbial surroundings.

Three of the families moved residence during the project, and their bugs made themselves at home shortly afterwards, and if a human left the dwelling for just a few days, their contribution to the microbiome there waned. “After a house move, the microbial community in the new house rapidly converged on the microbial community of the occupants’ former house, suggesting rapid colonization by the family’s microbiota,” write the authors.

Why the need to look at the microbes in our homes? These tiny organisms could be influencing our health. “The microbial diversity of the home likely affects immune defence and disease transmission among its residents, so that tracking how people microbially interact with the indoor environment may provide a “road map” to defining the health in our homes,” states the study.

A bit of culture with your science

Ever stopped to think about the microbes in your house? The Home Microbiome Project tracked seven households (including 15 adults, three children, three dogs and a cat) in the United States over the course of several weeks to find out more about how individuals affect the microbial communities in their homes, and found that we quickly leave the signature of our bacteria on household surfaces. "Each human maintains a specific microbial "fingerprint", which should transfer to a new indoor space with skin shedding, respiratory activity, and skin-surface contact, the latter of which can transfer millions of microbial cells per event," noted the authors recently in the journal Science

The study, led by the University of Chicago, examined microbes collected with swabs from the human participants’ hands, feet and noses and from household surfaces such as doorknobs, countertops and floors.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the research found that humans are bacterial vectors in their own ‘home microbiomes’, but what stood out was how quickly we appear to influence our microbial surroundings.

Three of the families moved residence during the project, and their bugs made themselves at home shortly afterwards, and if a human left the dwelling for just a few days, their contribution to the microbiome there waned. “After a house move, the microbial community in the new house rapidly converged on the microbial community of the occupants’ former house, suggesting rapid colonization by the family’s microbiota,” write the authors.

Why the need to look at the microbes in our homes? These tiny organisms could be influencing our health. “The microbial diversity of the home likely affects immune defence and disease transmission among its residents, so that tracking how people microbially interact with the indoor environment may provide a “road map” to defining the health in our homes,” states the study.