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Review
. 2025 Jan 7;101(1):fiae166.
doi: 10.1093/femsec/fiae166.

An interdisciplinary perspective of the built-environment microbiome

John S McAlister  1   2 , Michael J Blum  3 , Yana Bromberg  4   5 , Nina H Fefferman  1   2   3 , Qiang He  6   7 , Eric Lofgren  8 , Debra L Miller  9 , Courtney Schreiner  3 , K Selcuk Candan  10 , Heather Szabo-Rogers  11 , J Michael Reed  12
Affiliations
Review

An interdisciplinary perspective of the built-environment microbiome

John S McAlister et al. FEMS Microbiol Ecol. .

Abstract

The built environment provides an excellent setting for interdisciplinary research on the dynamics of microbial communities. The system is simplified compared to many natural settings, and to some extent the entire environment can be manipulated, from architectural design to materials use, air flow, human traffic, and capacity to disrupt microbial communities through cleaning. Here, we provide an overview of the ecology of the microbiome in the built environment. We address niche space and refugia, population, and community (metagenomic) dynamics, spatial ecology within a building, including the major microbial transmission mechanisms, as well as evolution. We also address landscape ecology, connecting microbiomes between physically separated buildings. At each stage, we pay particular attention to the actual and potential interface between disciplines, such as ecology, epidemiology, materials science, and human social behavior. We end by identifying some opportunities for future interdisciplinary research on the microbiome of the built environment.

Keywords: environmental ecology; microbial anthropocene; multidisciplinary microbial ecology; one health; urban metagenome; urban microbiome.

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Conflict of interest statement

JSM, MJB, YB, NHF, QH, DLM, CS, KSC, HSR, and JMR declare no conflict of interest. ETL has done consulting work within the past 3 years for View Inc.; View Inc. did not support this work in any way, nor have any influence over any aspect or component of the manuscript.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
A heuristic view of the built microbiome. The inset is the bacterium Klebsiella, shown at 5000× magnification.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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