Microbes at different ecological niches of our home

STEM Chat
#1

Hello!

I am currently reading articles related to microbes at different ecological niches of our home and as we know microbes are significant parts of our life who lives everywhere, on and around us. Today in the time of pandemic, we spend most of our times in our homes and we all are well aware about the fact that we are sourrounded by wide variety of species with which we communicate most much of the time (not visible with our naked eyes) and these are one of them which are probably going to impact our wellbeing and prosperity to a greater extent .

-This can assist us to know more with regards to our home and these microbes and their intractions which can either be hurtful or beneficial or may be mutual

-To compare the distinctions in bacterial networks found across explicit areas inside our home and the variety that exists inside territories and different elements that can effect or favor their existence in an area.
1- Size, shape, color, structures
2- Favorable and non- Favorable elements

-Does presence of a pet effect microbial growth ?

-Does indoor microbiome affect the prevalence and severity of any disease like asthma or any other ?

Understanding how different factors affect the microbiome can enable scientists to know more which can assess health risks associated with indoor microbial.

For now i have not figured it out that how i will be answeing these question in my home lab and still reading few articles to collect more information regarding this.

2 Likes
#2

Why not look for what microbes are present in our surroundings? How are you checking it? Can you explain how microbiology can be done in home lab? @Pandeydeeksha29707

#3

@Pandeydeeksha29707 We had multiple microbiology projects for Kalpana’s research phase at Vigyanshaala, including the one about exploring microbes in our surrounding environment like air, water, soil etc. Can you tell us exactly what drew you to this project over the one focusing on outside environmental niches?

#4

As we know that we are surrounded by lots and lots of microbes which are present everywhere (on door nobes, tv-remotes, mobile phones, kitchen-sink… etc) but we can’t see them through our naked eyes who may vary in shapes, structures, behavior and what not. After reading this project i realized it will be intresting to know about our surroundings microbes and their intractions, studying and observing these microbes about whom we are not that much aware will be very interesting to explore and especially as today we are spending most of our time in our homes due to the pendemic so it is very crucial to know about our surroundings in a better way which can assist us to know about these microbes and how we are effected by their intractions.

#5

For now i have been reading different articles on microbes that are commonly present in our homes and how their abundance vary in different places (door nobes, mobile phones, toilet seat, sink etc.) and how we can grown them and examine them in our home lab. Along with a required nutrient medium, after collecting samples from different location of home we need a proper environment with a constant temperature for their growth, and for that i have been viewing few vedios to make a homemade incubator and a homemade microscope to examine them later.

#6

Your target niches for exploring microbial diversity are very interesting because these extreme habitats found within human homes (such as extremes of temperature, pH, water activity, or low nutrient levels) have resemblances to some of the extreme habitats found on earth. In order to survive harsh environmental conditions, microbial species found in extreme environments, aka extremophiles, often possess enzymes that can function under extremes of temperatures, pH, salt concentrations, high pressure etc. Such enzymes have versatile applications in food, chemical and pharmaceutical industries and in environmental biotechnology.

I found a very interesting article by Brock and Boylen (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC380738/?page=1) where an extremophile was found in an environment that many of us encounter on a daily basis. These scientists discovered that close relatives of Thermus aquaticus, a bacterium originally isolated from thermal springs in Yellowstone National Park, reside in hot water coming from water heaters found in people’s homes.

@Pandeydeeksha29707 Did you find interesting examples while you were researching on this topic?