The Canine and Feline Skin Microbiome in Health and Disease

Nematode‐associated microbial taxa do not correlate with host phylogeny, geographic region or feeding morphology in marine sediment habitats

“…Studies of host‐associated microbiomes have become increasingly ubiquitous in recent years, driven by continued advances in high‐throughput sequencing technologies (HTS). The decreasing costs and enormous data outputs associated with HTS approaches (e.g., Illumina HiSeq and MiSeq platforms) have vastly expanded our understanding of microbial taxa associated with various hosts and ecosystems, including the human microbiome [e.g., gut and skin microbiome (Parfrey, Walters, & Knight, ; Schommer & Gallo, ; Turnbaugh et al., ; Walter & Ley, )], vertebrate and invertebrate species such as amphibians (Bataille, Lee‐Cruz, Tripathi, Kim, & Waldman, ; McKenzie, Bowers, Fierer, Knight, & Lauber, ; Walke et al., ), marine sponges (Fan, Liu, Simister, Webster, & Thomas, ; He, Liu, Karuppiah, Ren, & Li, ; Hentschel, Piel, Degnan, & Taylor, ), coral reefs (Bourne, Morrow, & Webster, ; Thompson, Rivera, Closek, & Medina, ; Ainsworth et al., ), oysters (Chauhan, Wafula, Lewis, & Pathak, ; Lokmer & Mathias Wegner, ) and household pets (Dewhirst et al., ; Dorn et al., ; Swanson et al., ; Weese, ).…”

“…Although the term “microbiome” is often used in reference to any type of sequencing‐based assessment of microbial biodiversity [e.g., the Earth Microbiome Project (Gilbert, Jansson, & Knight, ) or the troposphere microbiome (DeLeon‐Rodriguez et al., )], the term is most commonly used to define any species found in association with a specific host organism, including known bacterial symbionts [(endo‐ or ectosymbionts such as Wolbachia or sulphur‐utilizing bacteria (Ainsworth et al., ; Nicks & Rahn‐Lee, ; Sayavedra et al., ; Werren, )] specialized microbial populations that are adapted to life in host‐associated habitats such as mucus, gut linings or skin (Glasl, Herndl, & Frade, ; Larsen, Bullard, Womble, & Arias, ; Schommer & Gallo, ; Walke et al., ; Walter & Ley, ; Weese, ), and partially digested gut contents and prey items that can be identified via DNA sequencing (De Barba et al., ; Deagle, Kirkwood, & Jarman, ; Yu et al., ; Zeale, Butlin, Barker, Lees, & Jones, ). Common microbiome taxa include both parasitic and commensal species (Dheilly et al., ; Nunes‐Alves, ; Parfrey et al., ; Schommer & Gallo, ), with host‐associated species spanning both prokaryotic and eukaryotic domains of life.…”

Conjunctival bacterial and fungal flora and cutaneous fungal flora in healthy domestic rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

“…Commensal populations may vary in relation to contamination from the environment (geographic location, climate, season, feed and husbandry) (Andrew et al , Kiełbowicz et al ). Periocular skin is also believed to be a potential source of conjunctival flora because the same organisms are routinely isolated from the skin (Weese ). However, reports on such a correlation between the conjunctival and adjacent skin cultures are sparse, and this has only been demonstrated for the fungal flora in dogs (Verneuil et al ).…”

Efficacy of an ethanol/guar/triclosan/glycerine gel on bacteria and yeast loads in canine pododermatitis: a pilot study

“…The skin of dogs is normally colonised by micro‐organisms, particularly bacteria and yeast of the genus Malassezia (Weese ). In particular conditions, for example in the presence of predisposing diseases (allergies, endocrinopathies), colonisation by micro‐organisms can evolve to infection (Weese ). Decreasing the microbial numbers on skin mucosal surfaces would be desirable to prevent the development of recurrent infections, particularly in predisposed animals (Beco et al .…”