AUTHOR=Amato Pierre , Mathonat Frederic , Nuñez Lopez Leslie , Péguilhan Raphaëlle , Bourhane Zeina , Rossi Florent , Vyskocil Jonathan , Joly Muriel , Ervens Barbara TITLE=The aeromicrobiome: the selective and dynamic outer-layer of the Earth’s microbiome JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology VOLUME=14 YEAR=2023 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1186847 DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2023.1186847 ISSN=1664-302X ABSTRACT=

The atmosphere is an integral component of the Earth’s microbiome. Abundance, viability, and diversity of microorganisms circulating in the air are determined by various factors including environmental physical variables and intrinsic and biological properties of microbes, all ranging over large scales. The aeromicrobiome is thus poorly understood and difficult to predict due to the high heterogeneity of the airborne microorganisms and their properties, spatially and temporally. The atmosphere acts as a highly selective dispersion means on large scales for microbial cells, exposing them to a multitude of physical and chemical atmospheric processes. We provide here a brief critical review of the current knowledge and propose future research directions aiming at improving our comprehension of the atmosphere as a biome.