Deng, Y;
Ge, X;
Li, Y;
Zou, B;
Wen, X;
Chen, W;
Lu, L;
... Wei, L; + view all
(2021)
Identification of an intraocular microbiota.
Cell Discovery
, 7
, Article 13. 10.1038/s41421-021-00245-6.
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Abstract
The current dogma in ophthalmology and vision research presumes the intraocular environment to be sterile. However, recent evidence of intestinal bacterial translocation into the bloodstream and many other internal organs including the eyes, found in healthy and diseased animal models, suggests that the intraocular cavity may also be inhabited by a microbial community. Here, we tested intraocular samples from over 1000 human eyes. Using quantitative PCR, negative staining transmission electron microscopy, direct culture, and high-throughput sequencing technologies, we demonstrated the presence of intraocular bacteria. The possibility that the microbiome from these low-biomass communities could be a contamination from other tissues and reagents was carefully evaluated and excluded. We also provide preliminary evidence that a disease-specific microbial signature characterized the intraocular environment of patients with age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma, suggesting that either spontaneous or pathogenic bacterial translocation may be associated with these common sight-threatening conditions. Furthermore, we revealed the presence of an intraocular microbiome in normal eyes from non-human mammals and demonstrated that this varied across species (rat, rabbit, pig, and macaque) and was established after birth. These findings represent the first-ever evidence of intraocular microbiota in humans.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Identification of an intraocular microbiota |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41421-021-00245-6 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41421-021-00245-6 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Cell Biology |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Institute of Ophthalmology |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10131900 |
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