Abstract
Although it is well-known that human skin aging is accompanied by an alteration in the skin microbiota, we know little about how the composition of these changes during the course of aging and the effects of age-related skin microbes on aging. Using 16S ribosomal DNA and internal transcribed spacer ribosomal DNA sequencing to profile the microbiomes of 160 skin samples from two anatomical sites, the cheek and the abdomen, on 80 individuals of varying ages, we developed age-related microbiota profiles for both intrinsic skin aging and photoaging to provide an improved understanding of the age-dependent variation in skin microbial composition. According to the landscape, the microbial composition in the Children group was significantly different from that in the other age groups. Further correlation analysis with clinical parameters and functional prediction in each group revealed that high enrichment of nine microbial communities (i.e., Cyanobacteria, Staphylococcus, Cutibacterium, Lactobacillus, Corynebacterium, Streptococcus, Neisseria, Candida, and Malassezia) and 18 pathways (such as biosynthesis of antibiotics) potentially affected skin aging, implying that skin microbiomes may perform key functions in skin aging by regulating the immune response, resistance to ultraviolet light, and biosynthesis and metabolism of age-related substances. Our work re-establishes that skin microbiomes play an important regulatory role in the aging process and opens a new approach for targeted microbial therapy for skin aging.
Highlights
Skin is a complex barrier with a variety of biological functions
According to the functional prediction analysis, we found that photoaging was accompanied mainly by decreasing the biosynthesis and metabolism of age-related functional substances, whereas intrinsic skin aging was characterized by variation in the biological process
Due to the changes in individual residential states of skin microbiomes during aging, specific age-related microbial compositions were presented in different age groups
Summary
Skin is a complex barrier with a variety of biological functions. It provides an important surface for interactions with the external environment and protects the body from pathogenic, chemical, and physical assaults (Proksch et al, 2008). A range of cutaneous pathological states occurs when the compositional balance of the skin microbiome is broken due to factors such as aging (Kong et al, 2012; Schommer and Gallo, 2013; Prescott et al, 2017; Tett et al, 2017; Rocha and Bagatin, 2018). The composition of skin microbiomes varies depending on internal and external factors such as skin integrity and physiological status (Dreno et al, 2016), antibacterial therapy (Langdon et al, 2016), and demographic characteristics (Leung et al, 2016b).
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