Fig. 5: Constructing and maintaining stable conserved microbiota on SCmic models.

a Schematic of the experiment. Frozen stocks of the 7 strains were used to inoculate separate cultures, which were then grown for either 24 or 48 h. After the incubation period, the strains were mixed together in specific ratios and moistened with PBS. The mixture was then inoculated onto the model surface, and the colonies were incubated at a temperature of 32 °C and a relative humidity of 75% for a duration of 24 to 96 h. At each time point, the colonies were collected, and the abundance of each strain was detected using PMA-qPCR. b Scatterplot of the number of seven strains at each time point. c Average relative abundances of the 7 strains at each time point, n = 6 technical replicates. d Pearson’s correlation coefficient r between cultured microbiota at each time point and the average pre-colonization community. e Communities generated from the same inoculum have a nearly identical composition at 24, 48, 96 h, n = 3 technical replicates. f Schematic diagram of experiments in which sebum affects conservative microbiota. g Average relative abundances of the 7 strains at each time point with the impact of linoleic acid, squalene, and olive oil. h Significant effect of linoleic acid, squalene, and olive oil on the average relative abundances of C. acnes, S. epidermidis and S. aureus, the boxplots denote the median with a quartile range (25–75%), and the length of whiskers represents 1.5× the IQR, n = 4 biological replicates. i Significant effect of linoleic acid, squalene, and olive oil on the average number of S. epidermidis and S. aureus, the boxplots denote the median with a quartile range (25–75%), and the length of whiskers represents 1.5× the IQR, n = 4 biological replicates. Statistical significance was assessed using a one-way ANVOA. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.