The innovation of culture-independent, high-throughput sequencing techniques has facilitated the discovery of high microbial diversity in many habitats once considered inhospitable to life ( Rothschild & Mancinelli, 2001). Inasmuch as taxa from extreme environments can be both beneficial and harmful to humans, our findings also suggest future work to understand both the threats and opportunities posed by the life in these habitats. Our findings highlight the importance of examining interactive effects of multiple environmental extremes on microbial communities. In habitats with both extreme temperatures and extreme pH, taxa with known associations with extreme conditions dominated. Microbial diversity was lowest when habitats had both extreme temperature and one of these other extremes. Habitats with extreme temperatures alone appeared to be able to support a greater diversity of microbes than habitats with extreme pH or extreme chemical environments alone. However, we were nonetheless able to detect sequences from a relatively diverse array of bacteria and archaea. We found a lower diversity of microbes in these extreme home environments compared to less extreme habitats in the home. We focused on habitats in the home with extreme temperature, pH, and chemical environmental conditions. Here, we used high-throughput sequencing techniques to assess bacterial and archaeal diversity in the extreme environments inside human homes (e.g., dishwashers, hot water heaters, washing machine bleach reservoirs, etc.). These same environmental extremes can also be found closer to humans, even in our homes. High-throughput sequencing techniques have opened up the world of microbial diversity to scientists, and a flurry of studies in the most remote and extreme habitats on earth have begun to elucidate the key roles of microbes in ecosystems with extreme conditions.
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