02154nas a2200253   4500000000100000008004100001100001200042700001200054700001400066700001200080700001300092700001700105700001600122700001300138700001800151700002100169700001700190245013300207856005400340300000900394490000600403520147700409022001401886       2018                            d1 aSilva P1 aReis MP1 aÁvila MP1 aDias MF1 aCosta PS1 aSuhadolnik M1 aKunzmann BG1 aCarmo AO1 aKalapotakis E1 aChartone-Souza E1 aNascimento A00aInsights into the skin microbiome dynamics of leprosy patients during multi-drug therapy and in healthy individuals from Brazil.  uhttp://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-27074-0  a87830 v83 a<p>Leprosy is a chronic infectious peripheral neuropathy that is caused by Mycobacterium leprae, and the skin is one of its preferred target sites. However, the effects of this infection on the skin microbiome remain largely unexplored. Here, we characterize and compare the lesional and non-lesional skin microbiomes of leprosy patients and healthy individuals through the deep sequencing of 16 S rRNA genes. Additionally, a subset of patients was monitored throughout the multi-drug therapy to investigate its effect on the leprous skin microbiome. Firmicutes-associated OTUs (primarily Staphylococcus) prevailed in healthy individuals. By contrast, Firmicutes was underrepresented and Proteobacteria was enriched in the patients' skin, although a single dominant taxon has not been observed at a finer taxonomic resolution. These differences can be explained by the significant decrease in Staphylococcus and Streptococcus as well as the enrichment in Brevundimonas. The overrepresentation of Micrococcus in patients is also remarkable. Genus-level compositional profiles revealed no significant intrapersonal difference between lesional and non-lesional sites. Treatment-associated changes indicated a loss of diversity and a shift in the community composition, with stronger impacts on the OTUs that are considered indigenous bacteria. Therefore, the molecular signatures associated with leprosy identified herein might be of importance for early diagnostics.</p>
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