Association between the earwax properties determined by ABCC11 gene polymorphisms and the external auditory canal flora in healthy adults.. ear metagenome

Indigenous bacteria are present throughout the human body and affect the host through their bacterial components and metabolites. In otolaryngology, it has been reported that the resident bacterial flora is altered in non-infectious ear diseases such as otitis media pearly and otitis media exudative. On the other hand, the concept of genome-microbiome interaction, in which the local microbiota is controlled by the microenvironment determined by the host's genetic polymorphisms, has been proposed. We hypothesized that a single nucleotide polymorphism in the ABCC11 gene, which determines the properties of cerumen, regulates the flora of the ear canal. In this study, we simultaneously analyzed ABCC11 gene polymorphisms and ear canal microbiota in healthy subjects to clarify the relationship between genome-microbiome interaction in the ear canal, i.e., cerumen characteristics and ear canal microbiota.