Microbial Jet Set: Soil, Stress, and Survival in the Transatlantic Trade Winds.

Hundreds of millions of tons of airborne soil (dust) are trans­ported annually from the African Sahel region to the Caribbean. Despite high UV exposure and extreme desiccation during the week long trip across the Atlantic, thousands of microorganisms have been cultured from Caribbean air samples taken during dust events.   Which organisms have been arriving in Trinidad & Tobago?  How do they make the trip?  And, what is it about their stress response which makes them “super bugs” to withstand these stresses?   This study attempts to answer such questions through the use of various molecular techniques including analysis of the general stress response sigma factor encoded by rpoS.