Fig. 2: Omic approaches to characterise the host microbiome composition and interactions in the skin.
From: Omics-based decoding of molecular and metabolic crosstalk in the skin barrier ecosystem
A Diagram of the skin cellular components, showing epidermal and dermal layers, and associated surface microbiota. B Schematic workflow illustrating how omics can be integrated through computational methods to study host–microbe interactions. These steps include the acquisition of omics from host cells and microbes to map their composition and individual features (light orange rounded rectangles, later expanded with details in (C)), the data integration to decipher the host-microbiome functional interactions (pink rounded rectangles, later expanded with details in (D)). C Overview of omic techniques applied to both microbes (e.g., amplicon sequencing and shotgun metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, metaproteomics and metabolomics) and host cells (e.g., bulk and single-cell RNA-seq, metabolomics and spatial transcriptomics), enabling taxonomic, functional, and activity-based profiling. D Integration of omic data using computational tools supports network analysis, dimensionality reduction, and visualization of host–microbe associations. Conceptual models illustrate dynamic interactions between microbial taxa (M1, M2) and epidermal cell states (EpC1, EpC2) across homeostasis and disease, including transitions, imbalances, and state switches. Node size and color indicate relative abundance and identity, respectively.
