The Effects of Circumcision on the Penis Microbiome

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008422
• Publication Date: 2010-01-05T21:23:21Z
• Authors: Lance B. Price; Cindy M. Liu; Kristine E. Johnson; Maliha Aziz; Matthew K. Lau; Jolene Bowers; Jacques Ravel; Paul S. Keim; David Serwadda; Maria J. Wawer; Ronald H. Gray
• Keywords: Prevotella; Fusobacteria; Clostridiales; Hypervariable region

Circumcision is associated with significant reductions in HIV, HSV-2 and HPV infections among men bacterial vaginosis their female partners.We assessed the penile (coronal sulci) microbiota 12 HIV-negative Ugandan before after circumcision. Microbiota were characterized using sequence-tagged 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing targeting V3-V4 hypervariable regions. Taxonomic classification was performed RDP Naïve Bayesian Classifier. Among 42 unique families identified, Pseudomonadaceae Oxalobactericeae most abundant irrespective of circumcision status. a change overall (PerMANOVA p = 0.007) decrease putative anaerobic (Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test 0.014). Specifically, two families-Clostridiales Family XI (p 0.006) Prevotellaceae 0.006)-were uniquely Within these we identified number genera previously including: Anaerococcus spp., Finegoldia Peptoniphilus Prevotella spp.The anoxic microenvironment subpreputial space may support pro-inflammatory anaerobes that can activate Langerhans cells to present HIV CD4 draining lymph nodes. Thus, reduction bacteria play role protection from other sexually transmitted diseases.