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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Feb 7.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Microbiol. 2022 Aug 30;21(2):97–111. doi: 10.1038/s41579-022-00780-3

Fig. 4 |. Staphylococcus epidermidis competes with Cutibacterium acnes in the hair follicle.

Fig. 4 |

Cutibacterium acnes is a dominant hair follicle colonizer, and its expansion is correlated with progression of the common skin disease acne vulgaris. C. acnes encounters and competes with follicle-resident Staphylococcus epidermidis through production of the antimicrobial peptide (AMP) cutimycin. C. acnes inhibits S. epidermidis biofilm formation and sensitizes S. epidermidis to antibiotic killing through production of several short-chain fatty acids. C. acnes strains may produce other AMPs but this remains unclear. S. epidermidis counters this competition through production of AMPs and fermentation of follicle-available glycerol to multiple short-chain fatty acids, including acetic acid, butyric acid, lactic acid and succinic acid, to suppress C. acnes overgrowth. S. epidermidis strains may also utilize an ESAT6 secretion system to compete with C. acnes (not indicated), but this remains to be experimentally determined.