ArticleeLife2023
Bacterial DNA on the skin surface overrepresents the viable skin microbiome.
Article in eLife, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 44 citations in OpenAlex.
- The effects of caffeine and adenosine on the microbiome and lipidome of the scalp.International journal of cosmetic science · 2025Trial
- The Bacterial Landscape of Facial Skin: From Homeostasis to Skin Conditions.Dermatology and therapy · 2026Review
- A bioelectric dressing improves postderoofing outcomes in hidradenitis suppurativa by microbiome modulation: A split-body, randomized clinical trial.JID innovations : skin science from molecules to population health · 2026Article
- Review
- Evidence for murine cutaneous immune surveillance localized to hair follicle epithelium.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2026Article
- Infections as ecosystems: community metabolic interactions in microbial pathogenesis.Infection and immunity · 2025Review
- Intraspecies warfare restricts strain coexistence in human skin microbiomes.Nature microbiology · 2025Article
- Abundance measurements reveal the balance between lysis and lysogeny in the human gut microbiome.Current biology : CB · 2025Article
- Intraspecies dynamics underlie the apparent stability of two important skin microbiome species.Cell host & microbe · 2025Article
- Skin-Dwelling Bacteria Survive Preoperative Skin Preparation in Reconstruction Surgery.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Assessing the safety of microbiome perturbations.Microbial genomics · 2025Review
- Intraspecies warfare restricts strain coexistence in human skin microbiomes.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Absolute quantification of the living skin microbiome overcomes relic-DNA bias and reveals specific patterns across volunteers.Microbiome · 2025Article
- Skin microbiome and dermatologic disorders.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2025Review
- Previously hidden intraspecies dynamics underlie the apparent stability of two important skin microbiome species.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Temporal dynamics and interrelations of cytokines, neutrophil proteins, exudation, and bacterial colonization in epidermal wound healing.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Facultatively Anaerobic Staphylococci Enable AnaerobicMicroorganisms · 2024Article
- The host genotype actively shapes its microbiome across generations in laboratory mice.Microbiome · 2024Article
- Regulatory Standard for Determining Preoperative Skin Preparation Efficacy Underreports True Dermal Bioburden in a Porcine Model.Microorganisms · 2024Article
- Diversity of Neurotransmitter-Producing Human Skin Commensals.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The skin microbiome provides vital contributions to human health. However, the spatial organization and viability of its bacterial components remain unclear. Here, we apply culturing, imaging, and molecular approaches to human and mouse skin samples, and find that the skin surface is colonized by fewer viable bacteria than predicted by bacterial DNA levels. Instead, viable skin-associated bacteria are predominantly located in hair follicles and other cutaneous invaginations. Furthermore, we show that the skin microbiome has a uniquely low fraction of viable bacteria compared to other human microbiome sites, indicating that most bacterial DNA on the skin surface is not associated with viable cells Additionally, a small number of bacterial families dominate each skin site and traditional sequencing methods overestimate both the richness and diversity of the skin microbiome. Finally, we performed an in vivo skin microbiome perturbation-recovery study using human volunteers. Bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that, while the skin microbiome is remarkably stable even in the wake of aggressive perturbation, repopulation of the skin surface is driven by the underlying viable population. Our findings help explain the dynamics of skin microbiome perturbation as bacterial DNA on the skin surface can be transiently perturbed but is replenished by a stable underlying viable population. These results address multiple outstanding questions in skin microbiome biology with significant implications for future efforts to study and manipulate it.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.