The dependence of the concentrations of cultivated microorganisms and total protein on meteorological parameters (wind direction and speed, solar radiation, temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative and absolute humidity) is studied based on three years measurements. Sampling was carried out at the site of the State Scientific Center of Virology and Biotechnology “Vector” of Rospotrebnadzor, Koltsovo, Novosibirsk region, with simultaneous recording of weather conditions. The concentration of total protein was determined by the fluorescence method of a protein binding reagent, and the concentration of cultivated microorganisms was determined by standard cultural methods. Weather parameters were received from a weather station located near the sampling site. The analysis of the data shows that the concentrations of biological components in aerosol increase with the average temperature, absolute humidity, and illumination during sampling and decrease with an increase in the average relative humidity, wind speed, and atmospheric pressure.

Introduction: The atmosphere of Novosibirsk is characterized by increased levels of suspended particles, a significant part of which are bioaerosols. The latter include bacteria and fungi that can induce infectious diseases, allergies, and other negative responses in the population. Yet, the microbiota of ambient air of Novosibirsk and the region is poorly studied. Objective: To determine the concentration and composition of microorganisms in atmospheric aerosols of Novosibirsk and the region isolated in spring/summer 2023 and to test the microbial isolates for pathogenicity. Materials and methods: To isolate microorganisms from ambient aerosols, air was filtered applying Sartorius reinforced Teflon membrane filters and Hopar compressors. Their desorption from the filters was carried out by shaking in a physiological solution on a rocker and vortex followed by sowing the resulting suspensions onto nutrient media. We determined pathogenic signs by the presence of aggression enzymes and sensitivity of microbial isolates to antibiotics by the disk diffusion method. Sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene was performed by Sanger method; full genome sequencing was performed using the NextSeq 550 system. Results: During the study of the microbiota of atmospheric aerosols in Novosibirsk and the region in spring/summer 2023, fungi, spore-forming and non-spore-forming bacteria, both saprotrophic and pathogenic, were isolated with concentrations in the aerosol ranging from 100 to 8×103 CFU/m3, including multiple drug resistant ones. Fungi were generally represented by opportunistic and allergenic species of the genera Aspergillus, Alternaria, Cladosporium, Aureobasidium, and Penicillium, while bacteria – by a large variety of spore-forming and non-spore-forming bacterial species. Based on the results of analyzing phenotypic traits and the 16S rRNA gene sequencing, 119 bacterial isolates were identified. Full genome sequencing analysis and pathogenicity testing by secretion of catalase, hemolysins, lecithinase, lipase, plasma coagulase, alkaline phosphatase, gelatinase were performed for 49 of them along with testing for antibiotic resistance. We identified twenty-nine strains belonging to B. safensis, B. cereus, P. megaterium, B. mycoides, P. agglomerans, S. equorum, A. lwoffii, and a number of others with 5 to 7 positive reactions out of 9 in pathogenicity testing, capable of causing infectious diseases. Eleven strains showed resistance to 4 to 7 antibiotics, enabling their classification as multidrug-resistant. Conclusions: Detection of fungi and bacteria, which are among the most dangerous pathogens with multiple antimicrobial resistance, prove the necessity of constant control of the composition of bioaerosols in the urban environment.

И. С. Андреева 1* , А. С. Сафатов 1 , О. В. Охлопкова 1 , И. К. Резникова 1 , Г

— The new coronavirus pneumonia has rapidly spread around the world. The World Health Organization emphasized that the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus spreads mainly between people who are in close contact with each other, as well as in the case of touching contaminated surfaces followed by touching the eyes, nose, or mouth without first cleaning the hands. Possible permanent sources of the spread of the virus can be gathering of patients in hospitals in the case of noncompliance with the requirements for organizing the functioning of a hospital. Meteorological conditions can be a key factor influencing the spread of the virus in the case of an accidental release of virus-containing aerosol from such a hospital. Simulations are carried out with modern methods for solving a system of differential equations of the atmospheric boundary layer, which are adapted to describe the distribution of harmful atmospheric impurities over a real complex terrain considering urban buildings of various heights, forests, reservoirs, changing meteorological conditions, and many other factors.

Currently, a significant part of the world's soil cover is exposed to negative pollution, leading to its degradation. Oil hydrocarbons play a significant role among numerous soil pollutants. Sources of pollution are enterprises of oil extraction, oil refining, oil and oil products transportation. Every year in the world millions of tons of oil and oil products are lost during extraction, transportation, storage and use. Biological remediation based on the potential of microorganisms to transform pollutants of different origin is the most promising and environmentally safe method of restoring soil fertility, so the search for new strains to create and improve such biological preparations is still relevant. Atmospheric aerosols are a source of both transient and endogenous microbiota, which are metabolically active in relation to pollutants. During a complex airborne expedition on atmospheric sounding over the Arctic Ocean seas samples of aerosols were collected for microbiological analysis. The isolated cultures of microorganisms belonging to the genera Bacillus, Acinetobacter, Rhodococcus were tested for the ability to oil destruction when growing on agarized and liquid medium with the addition of oil to 2% as the only source of carbon and incubation for 10 days. The bioemulsifying and biodegrading abilities of microorganisms during growth in liquid medium were estimated visually by destruction of the surface film of oil, turbidity of the nutrient medium due to an increase in the biomass of microorganisms, formation of a uniform emulsion of oil in the medium, microscopy of cultural suspensions, and by their seeding on agarized nutrient medium to determine the titer of viable cells. Highly effective mesophilic and psychrotolerant oil destructor bacteria were isolated from northern atmospheric aerosols, which can be used to create complex biopreparations capable of assimilating a wider range of oil hydrocarbons for remediation of polluted soils and grounds in cold territories of Siberia and the Arctic.

The SOI-FET biosensor (silicon-on-insulator field-effect transistor) for virus detection is a promising device in the fields of medicine, virology, biotechnology, and the environment. However, the applications of modern biosensors face numerous problems and require improvement. Some of these problems can be attributed to sensor design, while others can be attributed to technological limitations. The aim of this work is to conduct a theoretical investigation of the “antibody + antigen” complex (AB + AG) detection processes of a SOI-FET biosensor, which may also solve some of the aforementioned problems. Our investigation concentrates on the analysis of the probability of AB + AG complex detection and evaluation. Poisson probability density distribution was used to estimate the probability of the adsorption of the target molecules on the biosensor’s surface and, consequently, to obtain correct detection results. Many implicit and unexpected causes of error detection have been identified for AB + AG complexes using SOI-FET biosensors. We showed that accuracy and time of detection depend on the number of SOI-FET biosensors on a crystal.

Background: Biological components of atmospheric aerosol affect the quality of atmospheric air. Long-term trends in changes of the concentrations of total protein (a universal marker of the biogenic component of atmospheric aerosol) and culturable microorganisms in the air are studied. Methods: Atmospheric air samples are taken at two locations in the south of Western Siberia and during airborne sounding of the atmosphere. Sample analysis is carried out in the laboratory using standard culture methods (culturable microorganisms) and the fluorescence method (total protein). Results: Negative trends in the average annual concentration of total protein and culturable microorganisms in the air are revealed over more than 20 years of observations. For the concentration of total protein and culturable microorganisms in the air, intra-annual dynamics is revealed. The ratio of the maximum and minimum values of these concentrations reaches an order of magnitude. The variability of concentrations does not exceed, as a rule, two times for total protein and three times for culturable microorganisms. At the same time, for the data obtained in the course of airborne sounding of the atmosphere, a high temporal stability of the vertical profiles of the studied concentrations was found. The detected biodiversity of culturable microorganisms in atmospheric air samples demonstrates a very high variability at all observation sites. Conclusions: The revealed long-term changes in the biological components of atmospheric aerosol result in a decrease in their contribution to the atmospheric air quality index.

The concentration and diversity of cultivated bacteria and fungi isolated from samples of atmospheric aerosols taken during airborne sounding of the atmosphere at altitudes from 200 to 10,000 m above the seas of the Russian sector of the Arctic: the Barents Sea, the Kara Sea, the Laptev Sea, the East Siberian Sea, the Chukchi Sea, and the Bering Sea. Most of the samples analyzed showed the presence of pathogenic and opportunistic bacteria and fungi that can cause infectious and allergic diseases.

Abstract. The change of the global climate is most pronounced in the Arctic, where the air temperature increases two to three times faster than the global average. This process is associated with an increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. There are publications predicting the sharp increase of methane emissions into the atmosphere due to permafrost thawing. Therefore, it is important to study how the air composition in the Arctic changes in the changing climate. In the Russian sector of the Arctic, the air composition was measured only in the surface atmospheric layer at the coastal stations or earlier at the drifting stations. Vertical distributions of gas constituents of the atmosphere and aerosol were determined only in few small regions. That is why the integrated experiment was carried out to measure the composition of the troposphere in the entire Russian sector of the Arctic from onboard the Optik Tu-134 aircraft laboratory in the period of September 4 to 17 of 2020. The aircraft laboratory was equipped with contact and remote measurement facilities. The contact facilities were capable of measuring the concentrations of CO2, CH4, O3, CO, NOX, and SO2, as well as the disperse composition of particles in the size range from 3 nm to 32 µm, black carbon, organic and inorganic components of atmospheric aerosol. The remote facilities were operated to measure the water transparency in the upper layer of the ocean, the chlorophyll content in water, and spectral characteristics of the underlying surface. The measured data have shown that the ocean continues absorbing СО2. This process is most intense over the Barents and Kara Seas. The recorded methane concentration was increased over all the arctic seas, reaching 2090 ppb in the near-water layer over the Kara Sea. The contents of other gas components and black carbon were close to the background level. In bioaerosol, bacteria predominated among the identified microorganisms. In most samples, they were represented by coccal forms, less often spore-forming and non-spore-bearing rod-shaped bacteria. No dependence of the representation of various bacterial genera on the height and the sampling site was revealed. The most turbid during the experiment was the upper layer of the Chukchi and Bering Seas. The Barents Sea turned out to be the most transparent. The differences in extinction varied more than 1.5 times. In all measurements, except for the Barents Sea, the tendency to an increase in chlorophyll fluorescence in more transparent waters was observed.

Microorganisms of atmospheric aerosols sampled at four sites with different anthropogenic load in Novosibirsk in the period from September 2020 to December 2021 are studied. Atmospheric aerosols were sampled monthly by atmospheric air filtration on reinforced Teflon membranes Sartorius for 12 h, with two-week lags. Under those sampling conditions, spore-forming bacteria of the genus Bacillus and cocci of the genera Staphylococcus and Micrococcus predominated among the cultured bacteria in winter. In the spring–summer and autumn samples of atmospheric aerosols, the concentrations and diversity of coccal forms, spore-forming and non-spore-forming bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungi sharply increased. We have identified a significant number of hemolytic spore-forming bacteria and staphylococci, which are multiresistant to antibiotics and have enzymes contributing to the development of an infectious process.

Quick label-free virus screening and highly sensitive analytical tools/techniques are becoming extremely important in a pandemic. In this study, we developed a biosensing device based on the silicon nanoribbon multichannel and dielectrophoretic controlled sensors functionalized with SARS-CoV-2 spike antibodies for the use as a platform for the detection and studding of properties of viruses and their protein components. Replicatively defective viral particles based on vesicular stomatitis viruses and HIV-1 were used as carrier molecules to deliver the target SARS-CoV-2 spike S-proteins to sensory elements. It was shown that fully CMOS-compatible nanoribbon sensors have the subattomolar sensitivity and dynamic range of 4 orders. Specific interaction between S-proteins and antibodies leads to the accumulation of the negative charge on the sensor surface. Nonspecific interactions of the viral particles lead to the positive charge accumulation. It was shown that dielectrophoretic controlled sensors allow to estimate the effective charge of the single virus at the sensor surface and separate it from the charge associated with the binding of target proteins with the sensor surface.

In September 2020, the atmosphere was probed using the Optik Tu-134 aircraft laboratory over the waters of the Arctic Ocean seas: the Barents, Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, Chukchi, and Bering seas. Unique samples of atmospheric aerosols were collected at the altitudes from 200 to 10,000 m including samples in impingers for identification and genetic analysis of culturable microorganisms. The paper presents data on the concentrations and diversity of bacteria and fungi isolated by seeding 24 samples of atmospheric aerosols collected at different altitudes over the Arctic seas of Russia. The main morphophysiological, biochemical and genomic characteristics were obtained for 152 bacterial cultures, and the taxonomic groups they belong to were determined.

In 2020, a unique experiment, which had ever been implemented either in the former USSR or in modern-day Russia, was carried out in the Russian Arctic by means of the Optik Tu-134 aircraft laboratory operated by IAO SB RAS. The airborne measurement campaign was conducted on September 4-17 over all seas and coastal regions of the Russian sector of the Arctic, including northern part of the Bering Sea. During the flights, in situ measurements of CO, CO2, CH4, NO, NO2, SO2, O3, aerosols, and black carbon (BC) were performed. Air samples were taken to determine organic and inorganic compounds and biological material in aerosol particles. A remote sensing of the water turbidity in the upper sea layers was conducted by means of the LOZA-2 lidar that allowed a concentration of plankton to be derived there. Spectral characteristics of the water and underlying coastal surfaces were measured using a spectroradiometer. The primary analysis of the obtained data showed that concentrations of CO, NO, NO2, SO2, O3, aerosols, and BC during the experiment were low that is typical for background regions. CO2 mixing ratios in the lowest part of the troposphere above seas were lower than aloft. As compared with coastal areas, concentration of methane over all the seas of the Arctic sector and the Bering Sea was higher. We would like to acknowledge our colleagues from the following organizations for their assistance in organizing and conducting this campaign, and in particular, Laboratoire des sciences du climat et de l'environnement and Laboratoire atmosphères, milieux, observations spatiales (France); Finnish Meteorological Institute and Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research, University of Helsinki (Finland); Center for Global Environmental Research at the National Institute for Environmental Studies (Japan); the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Department of Commerce (USA); Max-Planck-Institute for Biochemistry (Germany); and University of Reading (UK).

The detection of influenza A virions with a nanoribbon detector (NR detector) has been demonstrated. Chips for the detector have been fabricated based on silicon-on-insulator nanoribbon structures (SOI nanoribbon chip), using a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible technology—by means of gas-phase etching and standard optical photolithography. The surface of the SOI nanoribbon chip contains a matrix of 10 nanoribbon (NR) sensor elements. SOI nanoribbon chips of n-type conductance have been used for this study. For biospecific detection of target particles, antibodies against influenza virus have been covalently immobilized onto NRs. Influenza A virus detection was performed by real-time registration of the source-drain current through the NRs. The detection of the target viral particles was carried out in buffer solutions at the target particles concentration within the range from 107 to 103 viral particles per milliliter (VP/mL). The lowest detectable concentration of the target viral particles was 6 × 10−16 M (corresponding to 104 VP/mL). The use of solutions containing ~109 to 1010 VP/mL resulted in saturation of the sensor surface with the target virions. In the saturation mode, detection was impossible.

The results of identifying the vaccinia virus with the use of nanowire biosensors manufactured on the basis of silicon-on-insulator (SOI) films were presented. In our experiments, the vaccinia virus, the LIVP strain from the collection of the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, and the rabbit blood serum containing specific polyclonal antibodies to the vaccinia virus were used. As shown by our studies, the polyvalent blood serum was electrically neutral at the sensor surface–viral suspension phase interface, the vaccinia virus was positively charged, and polyvalent blood serum–vaccinia virus vaccine complexes had a negative effective charge.

The recent outbreak of coronavirus disease caused by the respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has highlighted the urgent need to develop fast and highly sensitive analytical tools and diagnostic devices to detect and study of the fundamental properties viruses and their nucleic acid and protein components [1]. Silicon-on-insulator field-effect transistors (SOI-FETs) based sensors provide the versatile platform for direct detection of biological species as excellent electrical signal converters. These devices have demonstrated applications for label-free, ultra-sensitive, and selective real-time detection of a wide range of biological species, including nucleic acids, proteins and viruses in either single-element or multiplexed formats [2-5]. Dielectrophoresis (DEP) and electro-hydrodynamic techniques are well known as the methods of selection and delivery of analytes to overcome limitations of diffusive transport to sensor elements without additional processing or labeling steps [6]. The aim of this study was to investigate the features of the behavior of the viruses when they are indicated by SOI-FET sensors with DEF-control. For this, SOI-FET sensors with lateral DEP-electrodes and multichannel sensors, for comparison, were used. Top-down technology with using optical lithography was applied for sensor fabrication. Devices manufacturing details are described elsewhere [3]. As an analyte, we used nuclear polyhedrosis viruses (NPVs), coronavirus virus-like particles (CVP) and suspension of specific antibodies to the virus created in the Federal research center of Virology and biotechnology "Vector" of Rospotrebnadzor. The results showed that the sensors used in the study provide the subatomolar level of virus detection. DEP-concentration of viruses increase the response of the sensors by factors of 2 to 9 (compared to the response of sensors without DEP control) and allows the false positives can be eliminated. NPVs lose their mobility with prolonged exposure to an alternating field in the sub-MHz range. The DEP-concentration of CVP leads to the formation of crystal-like structures (Fig.1). This study was supported by grant no. 18-29-02091 of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research. Sample preparation of biological materials was done within the framework of the State Task of Rospotrebnadzor. Referencies: WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 – 23 April 2021 23 апреля 2021 г.https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19-23-april-2021. Patolsky F., Zheng G., Hayden O., Lakadamyali M., Zhuang X., Lieber C. M. Electrical detection of single viruses // Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2004, v. 101. p. 14017-14022. O. V. Naumova, V. M. Generalov, E. G. Zaitseva, A. V. Latyshev, A. L. Aseev, S. A. Pyankov, I. V. Kolosov, G. G. Ananko, A. P. Agafonov, E. V. Gavrilova, R. A. Maksyutov, and A. S. Safatov. Biosensors Based on Soi Nanowire Transistors for Biomedicine and Virusology. Russian Microelectronics, 2021, v. 50, N3, p. 137–145. Ivanov Y.D., Pleshakova T.O., Kozlov A.F., Malsagova K.A., Krohin N.V., Shumyantseva V.V., Shumov I.D., Popov V.P., Naumova O.V., Fomin B.I., Nasimov D.A., Aseev A.L., Archakov A.I. SOI nanowire for the high-sensitive detection of HBsAg and a-fetoprotein. Lab Chip. 2012, v. 12, p. 5104-5111. Dmitrienko E., Naumova O., Fomin B., Kupryushkin M., Volkova A., Amirkhanov N., Semenov D., Pyshnaya I., Pyshnyi D. Surface modification of SOI FET sensors for label-free and specific detection of short RNA analyte. Nanomedicine 2016, v. 11, N 16, p. 2073-2082. Lee S., Roh S.M., Lee E., Park Y., Lee B.C., Kwon Y., Kim H.J., Kim J. Applications of converged various forces for detection of biomolecules and novelty of dielectrophoretic force in the applications(Review). Sensors, 2020, v.20, p.3242. Fig.1 – Optical image of sensor with lateral DEP electrodes after CVP detection. In the left - CVP organized in crystal-like structures under DEP-concentration, in the right (green dots on dark field) - viruses with luminescent labels. S - source, D - drain. G1, G2 - lateral DEP electrodes. Figure 1

This article contains the results of research on the topical problem of highly sensitive express registration of biological objects using field-effect transistors with the surface open for analyte access, which are made based on silicon-on-insulator (SOI) films. The possibilities of dielectrophoretic effects for controlling the concentration of the analyte in the area of sensory elements are considered on the example of the indication of viruses of nuclear polyhedrosis and vaccinia. It is shown that the use of the dielectrophoresis (DEPh) effect makes it possible to solve (1) the key tasks for creating sensor systems: increasing the detecting ability, as well as exrtacting and verifying the signal from the target particles; and (2) the fundamental task: determining the charge state of the analyte in solutions without modifying the sensors’ surface. The problems and prospects of the mass application of nanowire (NW) biosensors, including those with the dielectrophoretic effect, in biotechnology, virology, etc., are discussed.