Unseen Coworkers: Office Space Bacteria
Thursday, July 26, 2012 - 06:10
in Biology & Nature
If you're a germophobe, you won't want to read a recent PLoS ONE report detailing the abundance and diversity of bacteria inhabiting urban office spaces. That's because researchers from San Diego State University and the University of Tucson found almost 4,000 "operational taxonomic units" (or, for lack of a better word, species) belonging to >500 genera across 20 bacterial divisions--all in just 54 offices distributed across 3 cities. Groups most commonly represented include Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria--all of which include pathogenic members that can cause serious infections in humans. read more