Detection of potentially novel bacterial components of the human skin microbiota using culture-independent molecular profiling

Abstract

Although the micro-organisms forming the cutaneous microbiota are considered to play important roles in the modification and prevention of skin diseases, a comprehensive analysis of their composition has not yet been carried out because of difficulties in determining yet-to-be-cultured micro-organisms in the samples. Swab-scrubbed forehead skin samples of five healthy volunteers were analysed by profiling 16S rRNA genes, as well as by conventional culture methods, to provide a profile of the cutaneous microbiota that included yet-to-be-cultured bacteria from normal human skin. Cluster analyses of the 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated a marked increase in diversity compared with that derived from the culture methods. Nineteen previously recognized species and 13 novel phylotypes were obtained from the analysis of 416 clones. In addition to well-known bacteria such as Staphylococcus epidermidis and Propionibacterium acnes, phylotype A, the 16S rRNA gene of which is 97 % similar to that of Methylophilus methylotrophus, was detected in three of the five samples, in one of which it was the predominant clone. Culture-independent genetic profiling of 16S rRNA genes for detecting human cutaneous microbiota has allowed us to detect potentially novel components of the cutaneous microbiota in humans.

The influence of sex, handedness, and washing on the diversity of hand surface bacteria

“…Qualitatively, the bacterial communities found on the hand surfaces ( Fig. 1 and Table S1) appear to be more similar to the communities found on forearm skin (6) than to the communities found on the forehead (19) or inner elbow (7), suggesting that skin bacterial communities are not uniform across the body and that skin surfaces closer in proximity may harbor more similar bacterial communities. Additional research mapping the distribution of bacterial taxa across a wide range of skin surfaces would allow us to specifically test this hypothesis.…”

“…The most abundant genera (Proprionibacterium, 31.6% of all sequences; Streptococcus, 17.2%; Staphylococcus, 8.3%; Corynebacterium, 4.3%; and Lactobacillus, 3.1%) were found on nearly all palm surfaces sampled. These genera have previously been found to be abundant in other molecular surveys of skin bacteria (6,19) and are considered to be common skin residents (5), yet they still represented Ͻ65% of all of the identified sequences ( Fig. 1 and Table S1).…”

A poke into the diversity and associations within human anterior nare microbial communities

“…In particular, various reports are now available on the microbiota inhabiting the human skin (Dekio et al, 2005;Gao et al, 2007;Fierer et al, 2008;Grice et al, 2008), in which the most recent reports gave a broad overview on the diversity of distinct skin sites of up to 10 healthy humans (Costello et al, 2009;Grice et al, 2009). …”

Microorganisms and Atopic Dermatitis

“…The results were surprising; the microbiota of some organs such as the oral cavity and gut are dominated mainly by unculturable or difficult-to-culture species. With regard to the skin, Dekio et al first reported such an analysis of the skin microbiota including a large number of unculturable species in 2005 (Dekio et al, 2005). The microbiota included 22 species that remained unidentified on the skin, in addition to the 11 known skin bacteria (Table 1).…”

“…Example of novel bacterial species identified in facial skin by molecular methods (Dekio et al, 2005) …”