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Conjunctival Commensal Isolation and Identification in Mice
Published on: May 1, 2021
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Defining the normal core microbiome of conjunctival microbial communities
1State Key Laboratory Cultivation Base, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Shandong Eye Institute, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Qingdao, China.
Summary
Metagenomic sequencing reveals the diverse bacterial communities in the human conjunctiva. This study identifies core genera like Corynebacterium and Pseudomonas, offering insights into ocular surface health.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Ophthalmology
- Genomics
Background:
- Bacterial ocular infections are prevalent, yet traditional identification methods for conjunctival microbiota have limitations.
- Metagenomic studies offer a superior approach to characterize the complex microbial communities of the conjunctiva.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize the composition and diversity of the normal adult human conjunctival microbiota using high-throughput sequencing.
- To establish a framework for future research into the role of conjunctival microbiota in ocular surface diseases.
Main Methods:
- Illumina high-throughput sequencing (MiSeq) of the 16S rDNA V3-V4 hypervariable region from 31 conjunctival swab samples.
- Bioinformatic analyses including operational taxonomic unit (OTU) generation, taxonomic classification, abundance profiling, and alpha diversity assessment.
Main Results:
- Generated over 840,000 high-quality sequencing reads, revealing significant microbial diversity (159-2042 OTUs per sample).
- Identified 25 phyla and 526 distinct genera, with Corynebacterium (28.22%) and Pseudomonas (26.75%) as dominant genera.
- Determined that Corynebacterium, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, and Acinetobacter constitute a significant portion of the core conjunctival microbiota.
Conclusions:
- High-throughput sequencing effectively characterized the diverse bacterial composition of the normal conjunctival microbiota.
- The identified core genera provide a baseline for understanding ocular microbial ecology and its implications in disease.
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