mSystems (Jun 2021)

Bacterial Communities in Concrete Reflect Its Composite Nature and Change with Weathering

  • E. Anders Kiledal,
  • Jessica L. Keffer,
  • Julia A. Maresca

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1128/mSystems.01153-20
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6, no. 3

Abstract

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Concrete is the most-used building material in the world and a biologically extreme environment, with a microbiome composed of bacteria that likely come from concrete precursor materials, aerosols, and environmental deposition. These microbes, though seeded from a variety of materials, are all subject to desiccation, heating, starvation, high salinity, and very high pH.