Abiotic and biotic effectors of colonisation in the skin microbiome

人类皮肤是一个复杂的生态系统，由多种细菌和真菌属定殖，并且在皮肤上长期建立的群落受到许多宿主和环境因素的影响，包括身体部位、性别、年龄和药物。皮肤微生物群有助于健康和疾病，通过它们的相互作用，它们产生抵抗病原体的屏障功能。人类皮肤上有十几种葡萄球菌，它们具有不同的分布和频率，来自进化的物种形成和生态位专业化。葡萄球菌与那些因体臭、头皮屑和其他皮肤状况而经常被个人护理产品改变的社区有关。皮肤定植葡萄球菌的成功只是部分了解，特别是它们与其他物种的关系和对营养物质的竞争。生物和非生物效应的物种在其生态位的成功的范围只进行了部分探索，在体内的贡献仍然是充分的特点。在本研究中，我们将研究非生物和生物效应子，这些效应子稳定/破坏皮肤“核心”微生物组的微生物群落，特别关注促进葡萄球菌成功的机制及其与其他物种和皮肤相关分子的竞争关系。利用基因组学和代谢组学方法，我们将调查稳定和不稳定的社区相互作用的因素，以提供物种成功的新见解。

Human skin is a complex ecosystem colonised by diverse bacterial and fungal genera and the communities that establish long term on skin are influenced by many host and environmental factors, including body site, gender, age and drugs. Skin microbiota contribute to health and disease and via their interactions they produce barrier functions against pathogens. There are over a dozen Staphylococcus species on human skin that have different distributions and frequencies from evolved speciation and niche specialisation. Staphylococci are associated with communities that are routinely altered with personal care products for body odour, dandruff and other skin conditions. Success of the skin-colonising staphylococci is only partially understood, particularly their relationship with other species and competition for nutrients. The range of biotic and abiotic effectors of species success in their niche have only been partly explored and in vivo contributions remain to be fully characterised. In this studentship, we will investigate abiotic and biotic effectors that stabilise/destabilise microbial communities of the skin 'core' microbiome with particular focus on mechanisms that promote Staphylococcus success and its competitive relationship with other species and skin-relevant molecules. Using genomics and metabolomics approaches we will investigate factors that stabilise and destabilise community interactions to provide novel insights of species success.