Protecting the outside: biological tools to manipulate the skin microbiota
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Accepted Version
Date
2020-05-12
Authors
O'Sullivan, Julie N.
Rea, Mary C.
Hill, Colin
Ross, R. Paul
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Published Version
Abstract
Interest surrounding the role that skin microbes play in various aspects of human health has recently experienced a timely surge, particularly among researchers, clinicians and consumer-focused industries. The world is now approaching a post-antibiotic era where conventional antibacterial therapeutics have shown a loss in effectiveness due to overuse, leading to the looming antibiotic resistance crisis. The increasing threat posed by antibiotic resistance is compounded by an inadequate discovery rate of new antibiotics and has, in turn, resulted in global interest for alternative solutions. Recent studies have demonstrated that imbalances in skin microbiota are associated with assorted skin diseases and infections. Specifically, restoration of this ecosystem imbalance results in an alleviation of symptoms, achieved simply by applying bacteria normally found in abundance on healthy skin to the skin of those deficient in beneficial bacteria. The aim of this review is to discuss the currently available literature on biological tools that have the potential to manipulate the skin microbiota, with particular focus on bacteriocins, phage therapy, antibiotics, probiotics and targets of the gut-skin axis. This review will also address how the skin microbiota protects humans from invading pathogens in the external environment while discussing novel strategies to manipulate the skin microbiota to avoid and/or treat various disease states.
Description
Keywords
Bacteriocin , Gut-skin axis , Phage , Probiotics , Skin microbiota
Citation
O'Sullivan, J. N., Rea, M. C., Hill, C. and Ross, R. P. (2020) 'Protecting the outside: biological tools to manipulate the skin microbiota', FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 96(6), fiaa085 (14pp). doi: 10.1093/femsec/fiaa085
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Copyright
© 2020, FEMS. All rights reserved. This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in FEMS Microbiology Ecology following peer review. The version of record [O'Sullivan, J. N., Rea, M. C., Hill, C. and Ross, R. P. (2020) 'Protecting the outside: biological tools to manipulate the skin microbiota', FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 96(6), fiaa085 (14pp). doi: 10.1093/femsec/fiaa085] is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiaa085