Abstract
The Gram-positive anaerobic bacterium Propionibacterium acnes is a prevalent member of the normal skin microbiota of human adults. In addition to its suspected role in acne vulgaris it is involved in a variety of opportunistic infections. Multi-locus sequence-typing (MLST) schemes identified distinct phylotypes associated with health and disease. Being based on 8 to 9 house-keeping genes these MLST schemes have a high discriminatory power, but their application is time- and cost-intensive. Here we describe a single-locus sequence typing (SLST) scheme for P. acnes. The target locus was identified with a genome mining approach that took advantage of the availability of representative genome sequences of all known phylotypes of P. acnes. We applied this SLST on a collection of 188 P. acnes strains and demonstrated a resolution comparable to that of existing MLST schemes. Phylogenetic analysis applied to the SLST locus resulted in clustering patterns identical to a reference tree based on core genome sequences. We further demonstrate that SLST can be applied to detect multiple phylotypes in complex microbial communities by a metagenomic pyrosequencing approach. The described SLST strategy may be applied to any bacterial species with a basically clonal population structure to achieve easy typing and mapping of multiple phylotypes in complex microbiotas. The P. acnes SLST database can be found at http://medbac.dk/slst/pacnes.
Highlights
Propionibacterium acnes is a Gram-positive anaerobic bacterium ubiquitously present in human sebaceous follicles of the skin [1,2]
In agreement with this hypothesis, the population structure resolved by multilocus sequence-typing (MLST) analyses revealed distinct healthand disease-associated lineages of P. acnes
The considerable genetic diversity that may exist within bacterial species is often reflected in differences in pathogenic potential or ecological preferences
Summary
Propionibacterium acnes is a Gram-positive anaerobic bacterium ubiquitously present in human sebaceous follicles of the skin [1,2]. The dual role of the P. acnes as a health-associated bacterium and an opportunistic pathogen led to the assumption that certain strains may possess an elevated pathogenic potential. In agreement with this hypothesis, the population structure resolved by multilocus sequence-typing (MLST) analyses revealed distinct healthand disease-associated lineages of P. acnes. Due to the relative sequence conservation of the genome, high-resolution typing required an MLST scheme based on nine loci (here designated MLST9) [15]. An alternative approach was reported by Fitz-Gibbon et al who used 16S rRNA gene ribotyping in a metagenomic approach to investigate the clonal diversity of P. acnes on the skin of acne patients and healthy individuals [20]
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