The phageome in normal and inflamed human skin

Dysbiosis of skin microbiota drives the progression of atopic dermatitis
(AD). The contribution of bacteriophages to bacterial community
compositions in normal and inflamed skin is unknown. Using shotgun
metagenomics from skin swabs of healthy individuals and AD patients, we
discovered 13586 potential viral contiguous DNA sequences, which could be
combined into 164 putative viral genomes including 133 putative phages.
The Shannon diversity index for the viral metagenome-assembled genomes
(vMAGs) did not correlate with AD. In total we identified 28 vMAGs that
differed significantly between normal and AD skin. qPCR validation of
three complete vMAGs revealed their independence from host bacterium
abundance. Our data indicate that normal and inflamed skin harbor distinct
phageomes and suggest a causative relationship between changing viral and
bacterial communities as a driver of skin pathology