Acne is Not Associated with Yet-Uncultured Bacteria

Current clinical and microbiological information on acne fails to demonstrate a clear association between particular species, including Propionibacterium acnes, and disease, and the disease continues to be a considerable problem. To test if acne is associated with hitherto uncultured bacteria residi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Clinical Microbiology 2008-10, Vol.46 (10), p.3355-3360
Main Authors: Bek-Thomsen, M, Lomholt, H.B, Kilian, M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acne Vulgaris - microbiology
Adolescent
Adult
Bacteria - classification
Bacteria - genetics
Bacteria - isolation & purification
Bacteriology
Biodiversity
Biological and medical sciences
DNA, Bacterial - chemistry
DNA, Bacterial - genetics
DNA, Ribosomal - chemistry
DNA, Ribosomal - genetics
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Genes, rRNA
Hair Follicle - microbiology
Humans
Male
Microbiology
Miscellaneous
Molecular Sequence Data
Phylogeny
RNA, Bacterial - genetics
RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics
Sequence Analysis, DNA
Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
Skin - microbiology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Current clinical and microbiological information on acne fails to demonstrate a clear association between particular species, including Propionibacterium acnes, and disease, and the disease continues to be a considerable problem. To test if acne is associated with hitherto uncultured bacteria residing in diseased skin follicles, sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of approximately 5,700 amplified and cloned 16S rRNA genes were used to determine the microbial diversity in follicles from acne patients and healthy individuals and from the superficial skin of acne patients. Follicles from healthy skin were exclusively colonized by P. acnes, whereas the follicular microbiota of acne patients included, in addition, Staphylococcus epidermidis and minor proportions of other species. In comparison, samples from superficial skin showed a complex microbiota represented by 12 to 16 bacterial species. The findings of the study exclude the possibility that acne is associated with yet-uncultured bacteria and shows that healthy skin follicles constitute a remarkably exclusive habitat allowing colonization only by P. acnes.
ISSN:0095-1137
1098-660X
DOI:10.1128/JCM.00799-08