Abstract
Hyaluronic acid (HA) and other glycosaminoglycans are extracellular matrix components in the human epidermis and dermis. One of the most prevalent skin microorganisms, Propionibacterium acnes, possesses HA-degrading activity, possibly conferred by the enzyme hyaluronate lyase (HYL). In this study, we identified the HYL of P. acnes and investigated the genotypic and phenotypic characteristics. Investigations include the generation of a P. acnes hyl knockout mutant and HYL activity assays to determine the substrate range and formed products. We found that P. acnes employs two distinct variants of HYL. One variant, HYL-IB/II, is highly active, resulting in complete HA degradation; it is present in strains of the phylotypes IB and II. The other variant, HYL-IA, has low activity, resulting in incomplete HA degradation; it is present in type IA strains. Our findings could explain some of the observed differences between P. acnes phylotype IA and IB/II strains. Whereas type IA strains are primarily found on the skin surface and associated with acne vulgaris, type IB/II strains are more often associated with soft and deep tissue infections, which would require elaborate tissue invasion strategies, possibly accomplished by a highly active HYL-IB/II.
Highlights
Propionibacterium acnes is a Gram-positive anaerobic but aerotolerant bacterium present in sebaceous follicle-rich areas of human skin, such as the face, upper chest, and back
Our study showed that hyaluronate lyase (HYL) is a widespread enzyme found in all phylogenetic types of P. acnes except for phylotype III, a type that is relatively rarely found on human skin of the face and upper back [20]
It was shown that HYL is a widespread enzyme found in all clinical isolates of P. acnes except for phylotype III isolates, and that two distinct variants of HYL exist in the P. acnes population, that differ in their ability to degrade Hyaluronic acid (HA), chondroitin 4-sulfate (CSA) and chondroitin sulfate C (CSC) as well as produce distinct HA fragments
Summary
Propionibacterium acnes is a Gram-positive anaerobic but aerotolerant bacterium present in sebaceous follicle-rich areas of human skin, such as the face, upper chest, and back. It is commonly known to play a role in the pathogenesis of the skin disorder acne vulgaris [2,3]. Based on several phylotyping schemes and complete genome sequencing, the population of P. acnes consists of several phylogenetic subtypes commonly designated IA1, IA2, IB, IC, II and III [6,7,8,9,10,11]. It was recently proposed to reclassify type I strains as P. acnes subsp. Acnes, type II as P. acnes subsp. Defendens and type III as P. acnes subsp. It was proposed to rename P. acnes to Cutibacterium acnes [14]
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