TY - JOUR

T1 - Staphylococcal communities on skin are associated with atopic dermatitis and disease severity.

AU - Edslev, Sofie Marie

AU - Olesen, Caroline Meyer

AU - Nørreslet, Line Brok

AU - Ingham, Anna Cäcilia

AU - Iversen, Søren

AU - Lilje, Berit

AU - Clausen, Maja Lisa

AU - Jensen, Jørgen Skov

AU - Stegger, Marc

AU - Agner, Tove

AU - Andersen, Paal Skytt

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - The skin microbiota of atopic dermatitis (AD) patients is characterized by increased Staphylococcus aureus colonization, which exacerbates disease symptoms and has been linked to reduced bacterial diversity. Skin bacterial communities in AD patients have mostly been described at family and genus levels, while species‐level characterization has been limited. In this study, we investigated the role of the bacteria belonging to the Staphylococcus genus using targeted sequencing of the tuf gene with genus‐specific primers. We compared staphylococcal communities on lesional and non‐lesional skin of AD patients, as well as AD patients with healthy controls, and determined the absolute abundance of bacteria present at each site. We observed that the staphylococcal community, bacterial alpha diversity, and bacterial densities were similar on lesional and non-lesional skin, whereas AD severity was associated with significant changes in staphylococcal composition. Increased S. aureus, Staphylococcus capitis, and Staphylococcus lugdunensis abundances were correlated with increased severity. Conversely, Staphylococcus hominis abundance was negatively correlated with severity. Furthermore, S. hominis relative abundance was reduced on AD skin compared to healthy skin. In conclusion, various staphylococcal species appear to be important for skin health.

AB - The skin microbiota of atopic dermatitis (AD) patients is characterized by increased Staphylococcus aureus colonization, which exacerbates disease symptoms and has been linked to reduced bacterial diversity. Skin bacterial communities in AD patients have mostly been described at family and genus levels, while species‐level characterization has been limited. In this study, we investigated the role of the bacteria belonging to the Staphylococcus genus using targeted sequencing of the tuf gene with genus‐specific primers. We compared staphylococcal communities on lesional and non‐lesional skin of AD patients, as well as AD patients with healthy controls, and determined the absolute abundance of bacteria present at each site. We observed that the staphylococcal community, bacterial alpha diversity, and bacterial densities were similar on lesional and non-lesional skin, whereas AD severity was associated with significant changes in staphylococcal composition. Increased S. aureus, Staphylococcus capitis, and Staphylococcus lugdunensis abundances were correlated with increased severity. Conversely, Staphylococcus hominis abundance was negatively correlated with severity. Furthermore, S. hominis relative abundance was reduced on AD skin compared to healthy skin. In conclusion, various staphylococcal species appear to be important for skin health.

KW - 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing

KW - 16S rRNA qPCR

KW - Atopic dermatitis

KW - Coagulase-negative staphylococci

KW - S. aureus

KW - Skin microbiome

KW - Skin microbiota

KW - Staphylococcus

KW - Tuf amplicon sequencing

U2 - 10.3390/microorganisms9020432

DO - 10.3390/microorganisms9020432

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 33669791

AN - SCOPUS:85100924013

VL - 9

SP - 1

EP - 17

JO - Microorganisms

JF - Microorganisms

SN - 2076-2607

IS - 2

M1 - 432

ER -