Microbial population in cloud water at the Puy de Dome:: Implications for the chemistry of clouds

Airborne micro-organisms are ubiquitous in the atmosphere there they can remain alive and be transported over long distances, thus colonizing new environments. Despite their great importance in relation to ecological and socio-economical issues (bio-terrorism, health, etc.) very few studies have been carried out in this field. In this study, the structure of the microbial community present in atmospheric water samples from clouds at the Puy de Dome (alt 1465 m, Massif Central, France) is described and the metabolic potential of some bacteria is investigated. The total microflora has been quantified by epifluorescence microscopy, while the cultivable aerobic micro-organisms were isolated. Bacteria were identified by 16S DNA sequencing and fungi by morphological criteria. The total bacterial count reached about 3 x 10(4) cells m(-3) of cloud volume (1 X 10(5) cells mL(-1) of cloud water), of which less than 1% are cultivable. Most of the isolated micro-organisms, including 12 fungal and 17 bacterial strains, are described here for the first time in atmospheric water. Many bacterial strains seem to be adapted to the extreme conditions found in cloud water (pH, Tau degrees, UV radiations, etc.). Comparison of the two samples (March 2003) shows that pH can be a major factor controlling the structure of this community: an acidic pH (Sample 1: pH = 4, 9) favours the presence of fungi and spore-forming bacteria, while a more neutral pH (Sample 2: pH = 5, 8) favours greater biodiversity. We have also shown, using in situ H-1 NMR, that most of the isolated bacteria are able to degrade various organic substrates such as formate, acetate, lactate, methanol and formaldehyde which represent the major organic compounds present in cloud water. In addition, the detection of intermediates indicated preferential metabolic routes for some of the strains. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.