Cohabitation impacts the microbial diversity and taxonomic makeup of the biotic and abiotic environments in a college dormitory

Abstract

Individuals carry a unique collection of microbes on their skin, known as their microbiome, which may impact the microbial makeup of their surrounding environment. The skin microbiome is also influenced by individuals cohabitating the same space. Using data collected by Richardson et al., this study aims to understand the influence of roommates on one’s skin microbiome and on the microbiota of their abiotic living environment. This will provide insight into how the human microbiota is influenced, and the role that those around us have in shaping the microbiome. Given the changes to the skin microbiome of cohabiting families and the microbial imprint humans tend to leave on the built environment in which they live, we hypothesized that having roommates would affect the microbial diversity of both environments. To address this hypothesis, we generated diversity metrics using QIIME2, which revealed significant differences between single- and multiple-occupancy dorm types. Subsequently, separate analyses of differential abundance and indicator taxa were conducted on the abiotic and biotic samples, which revealed significant differences in the abiotic samples between single and multiple occupancy dorms. This study revealed that not only are differentially abundant species occupying the abiotic environment of those with roommates, but that particular taxa may be used as indicators of individuals who live with or without roommates. It gives new insights into the effects of cohabitation with unrelated individuals and inspires further research into the biological causes behind the observed differences.