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. 2013 Mar 12:1:e53.
doi: 10.7717/peerj.53. Print 2013.

Significant changes in the skin microbiome mediated by the sport of roller derby

James F Meadow  1 , Ashley C Bateman, Keith M Herkert, Timothy K O'Connor, Jessica L Green
Affiliations

Significant changes in the skin microbiome mediated by the sport of roller derby

James F Meadow et al. PeerJ. .

Abstract

Diverse bacterial communities live on and in human skin. These complex communities vary by skin location on the body, over time, between individuals, and between geographic regions. Culture-based studies have shown that human to human and human to surface contact mediates the dispersal of pathogens, yet little is currently known about the drivers of bacterial community assembly patterns on human skin. We hypothesized that participation in a sport involving skin to skin contact would result in detectable shifts in skin bacterial community composition. We conducted a study during a flat track roller derby tournament, and found that teammates shared distinct skin microbial communities before and after playing against another team, but that opposing teams' bacterial communities converged during the course of a roller derby bout. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that the human skin microbiome shifts in composition during activities involving human to human contact, and that contact sports provide an ideal setting in which to evaluate dispersal of microorganisms between people.

Keywords: Contact sport; Human microbiome; Microbial biogeography; Microbial dispersal; Microbial ecology; Skin microbiology.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Variation in skin microbial community composition is significantly explained by team identity.
Ordination diagrams (axes 1 and 2 from separate 3-dimensional NMDS ordinations) summarizing similarity of skin bacterial community composition of all players. (A) Points represent players before bout 1 (EC formula image vs. SI formula image) and before bout 2 (EC formula image vs. DC formula image). Corresponding-colored ellipses show standard deviations around community variances from each team. The skin bacterial communities of the four team groups were significantly different before playing a bout (p < 0.001; from permutational MANOVA on Canberra taxonomic distances). (B) The four team groups are also significantly different after playing bouts (p < 0.001), though more overlap is observed between teams after bout 1 (EC formula image vs. SI formula image) and after bout 2 (EC formula image  vs. DC formula image). NMDS 3-dimensional stress = 19.66 (A) & 17.55 (B).
Figure 2
Figure 2. Home team (EC) players’ skin microbiomes were more similar to the microbial community detected on the roller derby track than visiting teams.
When each player’s pre-bout skin microbiomes were compared to the microbial communities found on the track surface, Emerald City players’ skin microbiomes were significantly more similar on average to the three track samples than were the skin microbiomes of players from Silicon Valley or DC. The same is true when considering teams on a per-bout basis (p = 0.001 & 0.007; for bouts 1 & 2, respectively).
Figure 3
Figure 3. Team-specific micobiomes are significantly different after playing in a bout.
NMDS ordination diagrams summarizing similarity of skin bacterial community composition when all players are compared within their own teams before and after a bout. All ordinations are based on Canberra taxonomic distances. (A) Emerald City before formula image and after formula image bout 1; (B) Silicon Valley before formula image and after formula image bout 1; (C) Emerald City before formula image and after formula image bout 2; (D) DC before formula image and after formula image bout 2. Corresponding-colored ellipses are standard deviations on community variances for each group. All teams showed significantly different microbial communities before vs. after a bout. NMDS 3-dimensional stress: A = 8.1, B = 10.47, C = 16.2, D = 17.65.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Bacterial community variance is reduced after playing in a bout for all players and for three of the four teams individually.
When all players were considered, regardless of team identity, bacterial communities were significantly more similar to one another after a bout than they were before a bout (p < 0.001). Both teams in bout 1 (EC and SI), as well as EC in bout 2, showed the same microbial community convergence. Points are jittered around the x-axis to more clearly describe distributions. All p-values are from β-dispersion tests; a lower mean community variance for the “after-bout” points means that players’ skin micobiomes were more similar to one another after playing in a bout. Colored points correspond to Table 1 and Figs. 1 and 3.
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