ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microbial Symbioses
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1595030
This article is part of the Research TopicDynamics of the Human Skin MicrobiotaView all articles
Dysbiosis and Genomic Plasticity in the Oily Scalp Microbiome: A Multi-Omics Analysis of Dandruff Pathogenesis
Provisionally accepted
- Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT), Shantou, Guangdong Province, China
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Dandruff, affecting approximately fifty percent of the global population, is a prevalent scalp condition linked to microbial dysbiosis and inflammation, significantly impacting quality of life. This study employed an integrative omics approach, utilizing 16S rRNA and ITS1 amplicon sequencing alongside shotgun metagenomics, to analyze the scalp microbiome of 65 individuals with varying scalp conditions (healthy oily, healthy non-oily, and dandruff oily). Distinct microbial profiles were identified, with an increased abundance of pathogenic genera such as Staphylococcus in the dandruff oily (DO) group, contrasted with the presence of Cutibacterium in healthy cohorts. Functional profiling revealed elevated DNA repair mechanisms in the DO group, indicative of stress stemming from pathogen overgrowth, while healthy non-oily samples demonstrated enhanced functions for scalp homeostasis. Notably, the increase in genomic plasticity in the DO group, characterized by antimicrobial resistance genes and mobile elements, underscores the complex interplay of microbial dynamics in dandruff pathology, advocating for microbiome-targeted therapies.
Keywords: Scalp Microbiome, Dysbiosis, Dandruff, Metagenomics, Genomic plasticity, horizontal gene transfer, multi-omics
Received: 17 Mar 2025; Accepted: 13 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yu, Li, Wang, Zhang, Mehmood and Habimana. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Olivier Habimana, Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT), Shantou, 515063, Guangdong Province, China
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