What’s Living in Your Kitchen Sink? PreMiEr Researchers Map Microbes Across 41 Homes
PreMiEr researchers sampled countertops, drains and faucets in 41 North Carolina kitchens and found that every kitchen hosts its own distinct community of bacteria and fungi.
Your kitchen has a microbiome all its own. Led by PreMiEr researcher Sherlynette Pérez Castro, a team from Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Institute of Marine Sciences and NC State sampled countertops, drain holes and faucet spouts in 41 homes across two North Carolina counties. They found that the individual kitchen mattered more than anything else, shaping 45 percent of the bacterial and 37 percent of the fungal differences between samples. Countertops held the most diverse communities, while drains and faucets were dominated by microbes like Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Penicillium and Candida, including some opportunistic species that can pose risks for people with weakened immune systems. The findings, published in BMC Microbiology, add to PreMiEr’s growing understanding of how sinks and the spaces around them shape the microbes we live with every day.
Read more here: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12866-026-05609-0