School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
School of Optometry and Vision Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Ocul Surf. 2019 Jan;17(1):111-118. doi: 10.1016/j.jtos.2018.11.005. Epub 2018 Nov 13.
The human eye is composed of numerous microhabitats. The aim of this study was to understand the communality and differences in the microbiomes of various regions of the eye.
Four ocular sites from different subject groups were assessed including the eyelid margin tissue from patients with lid abnormalities (n = 20), fornix and limbus conjunctival tissue from patients with pterygia (n = 23), ocular (conjunctival) surface swabs (n = 45) and facial skin swabs (n = 16). Microbial communities were analysed by extracting total DNA from samples and sequencing the 16S ribosomal(r)RNA gene using the Illumina MiSeq platform. Sequences were quality filtered, clustered into unique sequences (zOTUs) using the UNOISE pipeline in USEARCH and taxonomically classified using SILVA.
A difference in bacterial richness and diversity was found between sites (P < 0.001) and for age (P < 0.035) but not for sex (P > 0.05). There was a difference in bacterial community structure and composition between sites (P < 0.001). Bacterial distribution could be broadly classified into three groups - zOTUs resident on the skin and lid margin but with low abundances at other sites (Corynebacterium, Staphylococcus), zOTUs found mainly on the ocular surface (Acinetobacter, Aeribacillus) and zOTUs mostly present in the conjunctiva and lid margin (Pseudomonas).
The microhabitats of the human eye (ocular surface, conjunctiva, lid margin and skin) have a distinct bacterial biogeography with some bacteria shared between multiple regions while other bacteria occupy a more confined niche.
人眼由众多微生境组成。本研究旨在了解眼部不同区域微生物组的共性和差异。
评估了来自不同受试者群体的四个眼部部位，包括眼睑异常患者的眼睑缘组织（n=20）、翼状胬肉患者的穹窿和角膜缘结膜组织（n=23）、眼部（结膜）表面拭子（n=45）和面部皮肤拭子（n=16）。通过从样品中提取总 DNA 并用 Illumina MiSeq 平台对 16S 核糖体(r)RNA 基因进行测序来分析微生物群落。对序列进行质量过滤，使用 USEARCH 中的 UNOISE 管道将其聚类为独特序列（zOTU），并使用 SILVA 进行分类。
发现不同部位（P<0.001）和年龄（P<0.035）之间的细菌丰富度和多样性存在差异，但性别之间没有差异（P>0.05）。不同部位之间的细菌群落结构和组成存在差异（P<0.001）。细菌分布可大致分为三组 - 皮肤和眼睑缘上的 zOTU，但在其他部位丰度较低（棒状杆菌、葡萄球菌）、主要存在于眼部表面的 zOTU（不动杆菌、气单胞菌）和主要存在于结膜和眼睑缘的 zOTU（假单胞菌）。
人眼的微生境（眼部表面、结膜、眼睑缘和皮肤）具有独特的细菌生物地理学，一些细菌在多个区域共享，而其他细菌则占据更局限的生态位。
