Intracellular Microbiome Profiling of the Acanthamoeba Clinical Isolates from Lens Associated Keratitis

Pathogens

Fu-Chin Huang¹  Sung-Chou Li²  Yu-Jen Wang³  Wei-Chen Lin³ 

[1] Department of Ophthalmology, National Cheng Kung University Hospital, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, 70403 Tainan, Taiwan;Genomics and Proteomics Core Laboratory, Department of Medical Research, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and Chang Gung University College of Medicine, 83325 Kaohsiung, Taiwan;Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, 70101 Tainan, Taiwan;

关键词: Acanthamoeba;    keratitis;    metagenomics;    contact lens;   

DOI  :  10.3390/pathogens10030266

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Acanthamoeba act as hosts for various microorganisms and pathogens, causing Acanthamoeba Keratitis (AK). To investigate the association between endosymbionts and AK progression, we performed a metagenomics study to characterize the intracellular microbiome from five lenses associated with AK isolates and standard strains to characterize the role of ocular flora in AK progression. The used clinical isolates were axenic cultured from lenses associated with AK patients. AK isolates and standard controls such as 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing techniques were used for analysis. The microbiome compositions and relative abundance values were compared. The orders of Clostridiales and Bacteroidales presented major populations of intracellular microbes belonging to all isolates. Comparison of the different source isolates showed that most of the abundance in keratitis isolates came from Ruminococcus gnavus (121.0 folds), Eubacterium dolichum (54.15 folds), Roseburia faecis (24.51 folds), and Blautia producta (3.15 folds). Further analysis of the relative abundance data from keratitis isolates showed that Blautia producta was positively correlated with the disease course. In contrast, Bacteroides ovatus was found to be abundant in early-stage keratitis isolates. This study reveals the abundant anaerobic Gram-positive rods present in severe keratitis isolate and characterize the association between Acanthamoeba and ocular flora in AK progression.

【 授权许可】

Unknown