The microbial ecology of the human nasal cavity
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The establishment and wide acceptance of an abundant and diverse human-associated microbial community has been one of the most important shifts in the field of microbiology in the past decade. From a bacterial perspective, the body is a vast landscape whose shifting geography and fluctuating environmental conditions provide a range of distinct residential possibilities. Some habitats, such as the intestinal tract and the oral cavity, have been characterized more extensively than others; within these environs, an understanding of the interplay between microbial ecology and health and disease has begun to emerge. The nasal cavity, a crucial component of both the respiratory system and innate immune system, has yet to benefit from an exploration of similar depth. Recent examination of the nasal microbial habitat has almost exclusively focused on the anterior nares without examining deeper sites within the cavity which are actively involved in nasal mucociliary clearance and exposed to the efflux of various sinuses. The aim of this work was to explore this biogeography by characterizing the microbial communities in a range of spatial sites along the nasal passageway. Additionally, the nasal cavity has long been a source of pathogens, most notably Staphylococcus aureus. Carriage of S. aureus has been demonstrated to be a significant risk factor for acquisition of antibiotic resistant strains of S. aureus and hospital-acquired infections. The second aim of this project was to understand whether underlying community features may be present that were characteristic of S. aureus carriage. 13 healthy subjects (6 persistent and 7 non-persistent carriers) were sampled weekly at 3 different sites (anterior nares, middle meatus, and sphenoethmoidal recess) within the nasal cavity over a 4-week period. The data shows that biogeographical differences were based less upon spatial factors and more on epithelium type. The data also showed that the S. aureus carriage type of the individual contributed the greatest amount of non-S. aureus variation within the communities. Finally, a carriage-classifying model was generated from the data and examined for important predictive features, revealing a potential intra-genus, interspecific competitive interaction in Corynebacterium with implications on S. aureus carriage. These results highlight the complexity present in human microbial communities even within highly spatially constrained microenvironments.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2012 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Yan, Miling |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Microbiology and Immunology |
| Primary advisor | Relman, David A |
| Thesis advisor | Relman, David A |
| Thesis advisor | Chambers, Henry F |
| Thesis advisor | Schneider, David (David Samuel) |
| Thesis advisor | Schoolnik, Gary K |
| Advisor | Chambers, Henry F |
| Advisor | Schneider, David (David Samuel) |
| Advisor | Schoolnik, Gary K |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Miling Yan. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. |
| Thesis | Ph.D. Stanford University 2012 |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2012 by Miling Yan
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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