Identifying microbial indicators of damp and moldy buildings remains a challenge at the intersection of microbiology, building science, and public health. Sixty homes in New York City were assessed for moisture-related damage, and three types of dust samples were collected for microbiological analysis. We applied four approaches for detecting fungal signatures of moisture damage in these buildings. Two novel targeted approaches selected specific taxa, identified by a priori hypotheses, from the broad mycobiome as detected with amplicon sequencing. We investigated whether (i) hydrophilic fungi (i.e., requiring high moisture) or (ii) fungi previously reported as indicating damp homes would be more abundant in water-damaged rooms/homes than in nondamaged rooms/homes. Two untargeted approaches compared water-damaged to non-water-damaged homes for (i) differences between indoor and outdoor fungal populations or (ii) differences in the presence or relative abundance of particular fungal taxa. Strong relationships with damage indicators were found for some targeted fungal groups in some sampling types, although not always in the hypothesized direction. For example, for vacuum samples, hydrophilic fungi had significantly higher relative abundance in water-damaged homes, but mesophilic fungi, unexpectedly, had significantly lower relative abundance in homes with visible mold. Untargeted approaches identified no microbial community metrics correlated with water damage variables but did identify specific taxa with at least weak positive links to water-damaged homes. These results, although showing a complex relationship between moisture damage and microbial communities, suggest that targeting particular fungi offers a potential route toward identifying a fungal signature of moisture damage in buildings.

中文翻译：

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建筑物中水分破坏的真菌特征：通过针对性和非针对性的方法与霉菌组数据进行鉴定。

在微生物学，建筑科学和公共卫生的交叉领域，识别潮湿和发霉的建筑物的微生物指标仍然是一个挑战。对纽约市的60户房屋进行了与湿气有关的破坏评估，并收集了三种类型的灰尘样品进行微生物分析。我们应用了四种方法来检测这些建筑物中水分破坏的真菌特征。两种新的有针对性的方法选择了特定的分类单元，由先验确定扩增子测序检测到的广泛菌群的假说。我们调查了（i）亲水性真菌（即需要高水分）还是（ii）先前报告表明潮湿的房屋在水损坏的房间/房屋中比在未损坏的房间/房屋中更丰富。两种无针对性的方法比较了（i）室内和室外真菌种群之间的差异或（ii）特定真菌类群的存在或相对丰度方面的差异，将水害房屋与未水害房屋进行了比较。在某些采样类型中，某些目标真菌类群与破坏指标之间存在着很强的联系，尽管并不总是沿假设的方向发展。例如，对于真空样品，亲水性真菌在水毁房屋中具有相对较高的相对丰度，而中温性真菌出乎意料的是，有霉菌的房屋的相对丰度明显降低。无针对性的方法没有发现与水破坏变量相关的微生物群落指标，但确实确定了与水毁坏的房屋至少具有弱正向联系的特定分类群。这些结果尽管显示了水分破坏与微生物群落之间的复杂关系，但表明针对特定真菌提供了一种识别建筑物中水分破坏的真菌特征的潜在途径。