Abstract
Background: The human skin offers diverse ecosystems for microbial symbionts. However, the factors shaping skin–microbiome interactions are still insufficiently characterized. This contrasts with the broader knowledge about factors influencing gut microbiota. Objectives: We aimed to investigate major patterns of association of host traits, lifestyle and environmental factors with skin bacteria in two German populations. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study with 647 participants from two population-based German cohorts, PopGen (n = 294) and KORA FF4 (n = 353), totalling 1794 skin samples. The V1–V2 regions of the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene were sequenced. Associations were tested with two bacterial levels, community (beta diversity) and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequence variants (ASVs). Results: We validated known associations of the skin microbiota with skin microenvironment, age, body mass index and sex. These factors were associated with beta diversity and abundance of ASVs in PopGen, which was largely replicated in KORA FF4. Most intriguingly, dietary macronutrients and total dietary energy were associated with several ASVs. ASVs were also associated with smoking, alcohol consumption, skin pH, skin type, transepidermal water loss, education and several environmental exposures, including hours spent outdoors. Associated ASVs included members of the genera Propionibacterium, Corynebacterium and Staphylococcus. Conclusions: We expand the current understanding of factors associated with the skin bacterial community. We show the association of diet with skin bacteria. Finally, we hypothesize that the skin microenvironment and host physiology would shape the skin bacterial community to a greater extent compared with a single skin physiological feature, lifestyle and environmental exposure.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | British Journal of Dermatology |
| Volume | 185 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Pages (from-to) | 573-584 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| ISSN | 0007-0963 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 09.2021 |
Funding
sources The project leading to this application has received funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Grant no. WE2678/14-1 and the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking under Grant Agreement no. 821511 (BIOMAP). This Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union?s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and EFPIA. The KORA study was initiated and financed by the Helmholtz Zentrum M?nchen ? German Research Center for Environmental Health, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and by the State of Bavaria.We are grateful to all participants and study staff from the Biobank PopGen (Dr Gunnar Jacobs and team) and the KORA Studienzentrum (Dr Margit Heier and team). We thank the staff from UKSH Dermatology laboratory, the IKMB microbiome laboratory and the IKMB DNA laboratory. We are grateful to Dr Malte R?hlemann for insightful comments. We thank Martin Schulzky for the design of skin site icons. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| UKSH | |
| Horizon 2020 Framework Programme | |
| European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations | |
| Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft | WE2678/14-1 |
| Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung | |
| Innovative Medicines Initiative | 821511 |
| Helmholtz Zentrum München |
Research Areas and Centers
- Academic Focus: Center for Infection and Inflammation Research (ZIEL)
DFG Research Classification Scheme
- 2.21-05 Immunology
- 2.22-19 Dermatology
- 2.22-01 Epidemiology, Medical Biometry/Statistics
