UC Berkeley

Ventilation system filter offers a practical alternative for indoor bioaerosol sampling due to its high flow rate and long operational duration. However, as it samples the air, the filter is also regularly exposed to air flow stresses and elevated temperature for a long duration (months). This study utilized DNA-based methods (fluorometry, qPCR and sequencing) to investigate the effect of exposure to such conditions to the integrity of DNA that is analysed at the end of the filter's service (3 months of operations). Current results indicated that microbial diversity was only mildly affected by the exposure but quantitative analysis must be performed with cautions as biomass loss was detected from total, bacterial and fungal DNA.