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Volume 171, Issue 1

does not exert competitive exclusion on human corneocytes Open Access

This article is part of the Exploring the skin microbiome in health and disease collection

Abstract

Human skin is our primary physical barrier and largest immune organ, and it also hosts a protective microbiota. Staphylococci are prominent members of the skin microbiota, including the ubiquitous coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS). The coagulase-positive is found as part of the microbiota, but it poses clinical concern due to its potential pathogenicity and antibiotic resistance. Recently, a CoNS, , has been shown to inhibit growth via the production of a novel antibiotic, lugdunin. In this study, we use human skin models to understand the spatial relationships between the CoNS and with during colonization of human skin. We investigated the attachment patterns of the bacteria, both individually and in competition. Surprisingly, we found that attachment did not always correlate with colonization ability. exhibited significantly reduced attachment to human skin stratum corneum but was an efficient longer-term colonizer. had a distinct attachment pattern on human corneocytes, with no significant overlap, or competitive exclusion, with the other strains. is a potential probiotic strain, with a proven ability to suppress . Before this potential can be realized, however, further research is needed to understand how this strain adheres and interacts with other bacteria in the human skin microenvironment.

  • Received:
  • Accepted:
  • Published Online:
Keyword(s): MRSA , S. epidermidis , S. lugdunensis , skin and stratum corneum
Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Vetenskapsrådet (Award 2019-01460)
    • Principal Award Recipient: KeiraMelican
  • Novo Nordisk Fonden (Award NNF22OC0077593)
    • Principal Award Recipient: KeiraMelican
  • Karolinska Institutet (Award FUS-2019:0003)
    • Principal Award Recipient: KeiraMelican
  • Vetenskapsrådet (Award 2020–01790)
    • Principal Award Recipient: KeiraMelican
© 2025 The Authors
  • This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. This article was made open access via a Publish and Read agreement between the Microbiology Society and the corresponding author’s institution.
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2025-01-31
2025-11-11

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/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001522
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Staphylococcus lugdunensis does not exert competitive exclusion on human corneocytes
Microbiology 171, 001522 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001522
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001522
/content/journal/micro/10.1099/mic.0.001522
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