Pyrosequencing as a Tool to Analyze the Mycobiomes in Green-Building Materials

Environmental concerns for improved energy consumption and reduced carbon emissions are driving a green building/remodeling movement resulting in tighter buildings and poor indoor air quality. Recently, more and more office buildings are being constructed using green-building materials in order to become energy-efficient. Building-related symptoms (BRS) amongst office workers have been attributed to poor indoor air quality in modern energy-efficient buildings. Furthermore, there has been a causal relationship established between fungal exposures and BRS amongst office workers. The potential harmfulness of fungal contamination is dependent on the species content and the material in which the fungi proliferate. Fungi are major colonizers of building materials. The aim of the proposed study is to investigate the difference in fungal diversity in green-building materials as compared to non-green building materials, using pyrosequencing. Pyrosequencing is a cost- and time-effective DNA sequencing technique that has been used for evaluating microbial diversities in various environments. This technique is based on the detection of released pyrophosphate (PPi) during DNA synthesis. The expected results will lead to a better understanding between fungal diversity in green- and non-green building materials. This will be the first study to use pyrosequencing in order to investigate the relationship between fungal communities and green building materials.