Yeasts Prefer Daycares and Molds Prefer Private Homes

Worldwide, people spend most of their time indoors; in their homes, workplaces, schools, and daycares. Indoor fungi can cause negative health efects due to the production of toxins or volatiles that trigger the immune system of the occupants. To what degree indoor fungi (mycobiomes) difer between buildings with diferent usage is poorly known. Here, we compare the indoor mycobiomes in 123 children’s daycare centers and 214 private homes throughout Norway, as revealed by metabarcoding of DNA extracted from dust samples collected by community scientists. Although the fungal richness per se was similar in dust samples from daycares and homes, the fungal community composition difered. Yeast fungi, distributed mainly across the orders Saccharomycetales, Filobasidiales, and Tremellales, were proportionally more abundant in the daycares, while flamentous fungi, including spore-producing molds such as Aspergillus, Penicillum, and Cladosporium, were relatively more abundant in homes. Number of occupants, which is considerably higher in daycares, correlated signifcantly with the fungal community shift. We hypothesize that the density of occupants and their age distribution drive the systematic diference of yeasts and flamentous fungi in the two building types.

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