DataSheet_1_Profiling of Diagnostic Information of and Latent Susceptibility to Bacterial Keratitis From the Perspective of Ocular Bacterial Microbiota.docx

The ocular surface possesses its own bacterial microbiota. Once given a chance, opportunistic pathogens within ocular microbiota may lead to corneal infection like bacterial keratitis (BK). To reveal the possible factor that makes people vulnerable to BK from the perspective of ocular bacterial microbiota, as well as to compare diagnostic information provided by high-throughput 16S rDNA sequencing and bacterial culture, 20 patients with BK and 42 healthy volunteers were included. Conjunctival swabs and corneal scrapings collected from the diseased eyes of BK patients were subjected for both high-throughput 16S rDNA sequencing and bacterial culture. Conjunctival swabs collected from the normal eyes of BK patients and healthy volunteers were sent only for sequencing. For identifying the pathogens causing BK, high-throughput 16S rDNA sequencing presented a higher positive rate than bacterial culture (98.04% vs. 17.50%), with 92.11% reaching the genus level (including 10.53% down to the species level). However, none of the sequencing results was consistent with the cultural results. The sequencing technique appears to challenge culture, and could be a complement for pathogen identification. Moreover, compared to the eyes of healthy subjects, the ocular microbiota of three sample groups from BK patients contained significantly less Actinobacteria and Corynebacteria (determinate beneficial symbiotic bacteria), but significantly more Gammaproteobacteria, Pseudomonas, Bacteroides, and Escherichia-Shigella (common ocular pathogenic bacteria). Therefore, it is speculated that the imbalance of protective and aggressive bacteria in the ocular microbiota of healthy people may trigger susceptibility to BK. Based on this speculation, it seems promising to prevent and treat infectious oculopathy through regulating ocular microbiota.

眼表具有其独特的细菌微生物群。一旦有机会，眼微生物群中的机会性病原体可能导致角膜感染，如细菌性角膜炎（BK）。为了从眼细菌微生物群的角度揭示使人们易受BK侵害的可能因素，并比较高通量16S rDNA测序和细菌培养提供的诊断信息，纳入了20名BK患者和42名健康志愿者。对BK患者患眼采集的结膜拭子和角膜刮片同时进行了高通量16S rDNA测序和细菌培养。BK患者健康眼和健康志愿者采集的结膜拭子仅用于测序。为了鉴定导致BK的病原体，高通量16S rDNA测序的阳性率高于细菌培养（98.04%对比17.50%），其中92.11%达到属水平（包括10.53%达到种水平）。然而，所有测序结果均与培养结果不一致。测序技术似乎对培养构成了挑战，并可能成为病原体鉴定的补充。此外，与健康受试者的眼相比，BK患者三个样本组的眼微生物群中含有显著较少的放线菌和棒杆菌（确定的益共生细菌），但含有显著较多的变形菌门、假单胞菌、拟杆菌和埃希菌-志贺菌（常见的眼部病原菌）。因此，推测健康人群眼微生物群中保护和攻击性细菌的不平衡可能触发对BK的易感性。基于这一推测，通过调节眼微生物群预防和治疗感染性眼病似乎具有前景。