Metagenome of the built environment: Cleanrooms and spacecraft assembly facilities at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group has been monitoring the microbial burden of spacecraft since the Viking mission. Originally, culture-based techniques were used. More recently, amplicon-based and metagenomics approaches are being applied to increase the sensitivity of surveillance. We applied whole metagenomic sequencing to a variety of ISO cleanroom samples at the JPL, including the spacecraft assembly facility (SAF). These included samples from HEPA and ULPA filters and surface wipe samples.