Cargando…

Environmental influences on the skin microbiome of humans and cattle in rural Madagascar

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The skin harbors a dynamic community of microorganisms, where contact with humans, other animals and the environment can alter microbial communities. Most research on the human skin microbiome features Western populations living in hygienic conditions, yet these population...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Manus, Melissa B., Yu, James J., Park, Lawrence P., Mueller, Olaf, Windsor, Sarah C., Horvath, Julie E., Nunn, Charles L.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5631097/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29147568
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/emph/eox013
_version_ 1783269367977345024
author Manus, Melissa B.
Yu, James J.
Park, Lawrence P.
Mueller, Olaf
Windsor, Sarah C.
Horvath, Julie E.
Nunn, Charles L.
author_facet Manus, Melissa B.
Yu, James J.
Park, Lawrence P.
Mueller, Olaf
Windsor, Sarah C.
Horvath, Julie E.
Nunn, Charles L.
author_sort Manus, Melissa B.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The skin harbors a dynamic community of microorganisms, where contact with humans, other animals and the environment can alter microbial communities. Most research on the human skin microbiome features Western populations living in hygienic conditions, yet these populations have vastly different patterns of environmental contact than the majority of people on Earth, including those living in developing countries. METHODOLOGY: We studied skin microbial communities of humans and cattle (zebu) in rural Madagascar to investigate how zebu ownership affects microbial composition of the human skin, and to characterize non-Western human and zebu skin communities more generally. A portion of the 16S rRNA gene was sequenced from samples of zebu backs and human ankles, forearms, hands and armpits. Analyses were conducted in QIIME, R and LEfSe. RESULTS: Human and zebu samples varied in microbial community composition, yet we did not find evidence for a shared microbial signature between an individual and his zebu. Microbial communities differed across human body sites, with ankles reflecting increased diversity and greater similarity to samples from zebu, likely due to extensive shared contact with soil by humans and zebu. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Cattle ownership had, at best, weak effects on the human skin microbiome. We suggest that components of human biology and lifestyles override the microbial signature of close contact with zebu, including genetic factors and human–human interaction, irrespective of zebu ownership. Understanding ecological drivers of microbial communities will help determine ways that microbial transfer and community composition change as populations adopt Western lifestyles, and could provide insights into zoonotic disease transmission.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5631097
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2017
publisher Oxford University Press
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-56310972017-11-16 Environmental influences on the skin microbiome of humans and cattle in rural Madagascar Manus, Melissa B. Yu, James J. Park, Lawrence P. Mueller, Olaf Windsor, Sarah C. Horvath, Julie E. Nunn, Charles L. Evol Med Public Health Original Research Article BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The skin harbors a dynamic community of microorganisms, where contact with humans, other animals and the environment can alter microbial communities. Most research on the human skin microbiome features Western populations living in hygienic conditions, yet these populations have vastly different patterns of environmental contact than the majority of people on Earth, including those living in developing countries. METHODOLOGY: We studied skin microbial communities of humans and cattle (zebu) in rural Madagascar to investigate how zebu ownership affects microbial composition of the human skin, and to characterize non-Western human and zebu skin communities more generally. A portion of the 16S rRNA gene was sequenced from samples of zebu backs and human ankles, forearms, hands and armpits. Analyses were conducted in QIIME, R and LEfSe. RESULTS: Human and zebu samples varied in microbial community composition, yet we did not find evidence for a shared microbial signature between an individual and his zebu. Microbial communities differed across human body sites, with ankles reflecting increased diversity and greater similarity to samples from zebu, likely due to extensive shared contact with soil by humans and zebu. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Cattle ownership had, at best, weak effects on the human skin microbiome. We suggest that components of human biology and lifestyles override the microbial signature of close contact with zebu, including genetic factors and human–human interaction, irrespective of zebu ownership. Understanding ecological drivers of microbial communities will help determine ways that microbial transfer and community composition change as populations adopt Western lifestyles, and could provide insights into zoonotic disease transmission. Oxford University Press 2017-08-26 /pmc/articles/PMC5631097/ /pubmed/29147568 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/emph/eox013 Text en © The Author(s) 2017. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Research Article
Manus, Melissa B.
Yu, James J.
Park, Lawrence P.
Mueller, Olaf
Windsor, Sarah C.
Horvath, Julie E.
Nunn, Charles L.
Environmental influences on the skin microbiome of humans and cattle in rural Madagascar
title Environmental influences on the skin microbiome of humans and cattle in rural Madagascar
title_full Environmental influences on the skin microbiome of humans and cattle in rural Madagascar
title_fullStr Environmental influences on the skin microbiome of humans and cattle in rural Madagascar
title_full_unstemmed Environmental influences on the skin microbiome of humans and cattle in rural Madagascar
title_short Environmental influences on the skin microbiome of humans and cattle in rural Madagascar
title_sort environmental influences on the skin microbiome of humans and cattle in rural madagascar
topic Original Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5631097/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29147568
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/emph/eox013
work_keys_str_mv AT manusmelissab environmentalinfluencesontheskinmicrobiomeofhumansandcattleinruralmadagascar
AT yujamesj environmentalinfluencesontheskinmicrobiomeofhumansandcattleinruralmadagascar
AT parklawrencep environmentalinfluencesontheskinmicrobiomeofhumansandcattleinruralmadagascar
AT muellerolaf environmentalinfluencesontheskinmicrobiomeofhumansandcattleinruralmadagascar
AT windsorsarahc environmentalinfluencesontheskinmicrobiomeofhumansandcattleinruralmadagascar
AT horvathjuliee environmentalinfluencesontheskinmicrobiomeofhumansandcattleinruralmadagascar
AT nunncharlesl environmentalinfluencesontheskinmicrobiomeofhumansandcattleinruralmadagascar