Abstract
The microbiota of human skin is influenced by host and environmental factors. To determine if chronological age influences the composition of the skin microbiota on the forehead and hands, 73 Korean women were sorted into one of three age groups: (1) 10–29 years (n = 24), (2) 30–49 years (n = 21), and (3) 50–79 years (n = 28). From the 73 women, 146 skin samples (two skin sites per person) were collected. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was then conducted to analyze the skin microbiota. The overall microbial distribution varied on the forehead but was similar on the hands across the three age groups. In addition, the composition of the skin microbiota differed between the forehead and hands. Commensal microbiota, such as Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Cutibacterium, and Corynebacterium, which contribute to maintaining skin health via dominant occupation, were affected by increasing age on forehead and hand skin. Alpha diversity indices increased significantly with age on forehead skin. This study indicates that older people may be more susceptible to pathogenic invasions due to an imbalanced skin microbiota resulting from age-related changes. The results of our study may help develop new strategies to rebalance skin microbiota shifted during aging.
Highlights
Human skin plays an important role in protecting the body against infections by pathogens and harbors a diverse skin microbiota composed of bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses, of which bacteria are the most dominant [1,2,3,4]
A total of 6,779,907 sequences were obtained from 146 samples, including 73 forehead and 73 hand skin samples
Previous studies have reported that the skin microbiome composition is affected by age [26,27]
Summary
Human skin plays an important role in protecting the body against infections by pathogens and harbors a diverse skin microbiota composed of bacteria, archaea, fungi, and viruses, of which bacteria are the most dominant [1,2,3,4]. Balanced colonization of the normal skin microbiota contributes to inhibiting adhesion of pathogens, whereas imbalanced colonization of an abnormal skin microbiota can lead to skin diseases/disorders [4,5,6]. Since 16S rRNA gene-based next-generation sequencing has been applied to skin microbiota analyses, the taxa of the skin microbiota have been identified with excellent coverage using bioinformatic programs [17,18]. The culture-independent sequencing method has greatly contributed to better understanding of the human skin microbiota and the influence of various factors
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