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Updated: Dec 7, 2025

Oral Biofilm Sampling for Microbiome Analysis in Healthy Children
Published on: December 31, 2017
Relationship between the bacterial community structures on human hair and scalp
Kota Watanabe1, Azusa Yamada1, Yuri Nishi1
1Laboratory of Soil and Environmental Microbiology, Division of Systems Bioengineering, Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Graduate School, Kyushu University , Fukuoka, Japan.
Abstract:
In this study, we investigated and compared characteristics of the bacterial community structures on hair (scalp hair) and scalp in 18 individuals. Significant differences were found between the sites, in terms of cell density, alpha and beta diversity, and relative abundance of the phyla, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria, whereas no difference was found in relative abundance of the phylum Actinobacteria. Bacteria of the genus Cutibacterium showed similar relative abundance at both sites, whereas those of genus Pseudomonas were highly abundant on hair, and those of genus Staphylococcus were significantly lesser in abundance on hair than on scalp. Statistical correlations between the sites were high for the individual relative abundance of five major operational taxonomic units (OTUs). This suggests that the bacterial community structure on hair is composed of hair-specific genus, Pseudomonas, and skin-derived genera, Cutibacterium and Staphylococcus, and is distinguishable from other human skin microbiomes.
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