2007 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Research on long distance movement of bacteria by Asian dust
| Project/Area Number |
17256001
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 海外学術 |
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| Research Field |
Environmental pharmacy
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| Research Institution | Osaka University |
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Principal Investigator |
NASU Masao Osaka University, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Professor (90218040)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
KAWABATA Zen-ichiro Osaka University, Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Professor (80108456)
HONNA Toshimasa Tottori University, Faculty of Agriculture, Professor (90093624)
FUJIYAMA Hideyasu Tottori University, Faculty of Agriculture, Professor (90108796)
ITO Norio Osaka University, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Lecturer (60176352)
YAMAGUCHI Nobuyasu Osaka University, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Associate professor (20252702)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2005 – 2007
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| Keywords | Asian dust / Bacteria / Dvnamics / Environmental microbiology / Molecular microbial ecology / Loess Plateau / Taklamakan desert |
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| Research Abstract |
"Asian Dust" is the transportation of a large amount of soil particles originated from arid regions in China and Mongolia such as Taklamakan desert, Gobi desert and Loess plateau, and these particles are transported to East Asia (China, Korea and Japan) by the prevailing westerly winds. In Japan, more than one million tons of dust particles are estimated to fall on ground per year (reported by the National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan). We supposed that these soil particles could be carriers of microbes. In order to clarify the dynamics of microbes moving with these dust events, bacterial cells attached to dust particles were detected by culture-independent approaches.
(1) Particle size distribution was measured by scanning electron microsrepic (SEM) image analysis. Dust samples collected in Beijing and Osaka were below 10μm and 5μm in diameter, respectively, and they are thought to be carriers of microbes.
(2) Particle characteristics were examined by SEM equipped with an energy-dispersive X-ray analyzer (SEM-EDX). The dust samples collected in Beijing and Osaka contained many small particles with distinctive soil characteristics.
(3) New technique to visualize the bacterial cells on particles by ribosomal RNA-targeted approach and scanning electron microscopy (SEM-ISH) was developed.
(4) By SEM-ISH analysis, bacterial cells attached on Asian Dust particles collected in Beijing were directly visualized. This indicated that bacteria can "travel" with "Asian Dust".
(5) Amount of microbes moving with Asian dust was determined by real time PCR. The voltune of bacterial cells on Asian dust particles to Beijing estimated as 10^<13>～^<16> cells/month/km^2 in spring season.
(6) Newly fabricated dust sampler was developed and the dust particles at the altitude of 1000 to 2000m in Japan were collected by a small airplane to avoid contamination of soil particles from ground.
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Research Products
(45 results)
