Major
Bioinformatics
Anticipated Graduation Year
2024
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
Staphylococcus epidermidis is a prominent and often benign member of the human microbiota. While it predominantly colonizes the skin, it can also be found in areas of the human body, such as the urinary, gastrointestinal, and respiratory tract as well as the oral cavity. Comparative studies of S. epidermidisstrains isolated from different anatomical niches on the same individual are limited. These studies include investigating strains isolated from different skin surfaces or different skin surfaces, an oral swab, and a nasal swab. Resident strains of S. epidermidis have been identified from the skin. Other anatomical sites have yet to be considered.
As a proof-of-concept, I recently investigated strains isolated from the bladder, vagina and perineal of the same individual. These strains were sequenced and their whole genomes compared. I found instances of the same strain shared between these different sites for a given individual. I also identified strains that were more similar to strains isolated from the same anatomical site, but from another individual. These findings suggest that S. epidermidis can both be shared between microbiota as well as not. These observations lead to our study which focuses on isolating and characterizing S. epidermidis strains from the urinary tract, nasal cavity, oral cavity, and skin of healthy female participants. Samples were cultured and S. epidermidis colonies were identified and their genome was sequenced. Bioinformatic analyses of these samples are ongoing as we characterize the genotypic diversity of S. epidermidis.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Dr. Putonti, Dr. Kula
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
You're covered... in Staphylococcus epidermidis
Staphylococcus epidermidis is a prominent and often benign member of the human microbiota. While it predominantly colonizes the skin, it can also be found in areas of the human body, such as the urinary, gastrointestinal, and respiratory tract as well as the oral cavity. Comparative studies of S. epidermidisstrains isolated from different anatomical niches on the same individual are limited. These studies include investigating strains isolated from different skin surfaces or different skin surfaces, an oral swab, and a nasal swab. Resident strains of S. epidermidis have been identified from the skin. Other anatomical sites have yet to be considered.
As a proof-of-concept, I recently investigated strains isolated from the bladder, vagina and perineal of the same individual. These strains were sequenced and their whole genomes compared. I found instances of the same strain shared between these different sites for a given individual. I also identified strains that were more similar to strains isolated from the same anatomical site, but from another individual. These findings suggest that S. epidermidis can both be shared between microbiota as well as not. These observations lead to our study which focuses on isolating and characterizing S. epidermidis strains from the urinary tract, nasal cavity, oral cavity, and skin of healthy female participants. Samples were cultured and S. epidermidis colonies were identified and their genome was sequenced. Bioinformatic analyses of these samples are ongoing as we characterize the genotypic diversity of S. epidermidis.