Authors:

Dante James

Date Created:

Not specified

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About Paper:

Sebum Driven Shifts in Antimicrobial Efficacy Against the Skin Pathogen Staphylococcus aureus Human skin contains up to 6,000 sebaceous glands per square inch. These glands produce sebum comprised of lipids, antimicrobials, and proteases. Sebum is instrumental in skin barrier integrity and defense; however, how sebum influences bacterial growth and antimicrobial susceptibility is unknown. Synthetic sebum (SS) formulations have recently become available. SS recapitulates key lipids of human sebum providing a reproducible alternative to study the influence of sebum on microbial physiology. The pathogen Staphylococcus aureus causes a range of skin diseases from boils to eczema. While antibiotic resistance is a major concern, even clinically susceptible S. aureus strains can survive antibiotic treatment. This process, termed antimicrobial tolerance, results from the environment and physiological state of the bacteria. We hypothesize sebum impacts S. aureus antimicrobial tolerance. We screened 200+ antimicrobials against S. aureus +/- SS. SS increases efficacy of 16 compounds and decreases efficacy of 7. As proof of principle, we focused on the ability of SS to protect S. aureus from membrane depolarizing compounds. Fatty acids alone or the ability of S. aureus to incorporate them in the membrane are insufficient for protection. Future work is focused on dissecting mechanisms by which SS impacts S. aureus antimicrobial susceptibility. This project may advance therapeutics against pathogens by utilizing host secretions in conjunction with antimicrobials

Source:

University of Oregon / 2025

Topics:

No topics listed

Co-authors:

Dante James