Culturable microorganisms in high-altitude atmospheric aerosol samples collected above northern Siberia by aircraft sounding

To contribute to the comprehensive study of atmospheric pollution in Siberia, aircraft soundingwas carried out in Northwestern Siberian along the following route: Novosibirsk - Surgut - Igarka - Novosibirsk. This work was aimed at studying the quantity and representation of culturable microorganisms and other biogenic components of the atmosphere at altitudes up to 8,000 m. The air samples were collected to impingers (flow rate 50 ± 5 L/min) where 50 ml of Hanks’ solution (ICN Biomedicals) was used as the sorbing liquid and applied on the fibrous filters. The concentration of biogenic material was recorded, and the concentration and diversity of culturable microorganisms were determined in total protein samples. It was found that the samples of atmospheric air contained 158 mesophilic and psychrophilic microorganisms represented by such genera as Micrococcus, Staphylococcus, Bacillus, Nocardia, Arthrobacter, and Rhodococcus. Also, Actinomycete, yeast and fungal cultures were also isolated...