Brandon S Maust, Stefan Petkov, Carolina Herrera, Colin Feng, Bryan P Brown, Limakatso Lebina, Daniel Opoka, Andrew Ssemata, Natasha Pillay, Jennifer Serwanga, Portia Seatlholo, Patricia Namubiru, Geoffrey Odoch, Susan Mugaba, Thabiso Seiphetlo, Clive M Gray, Pontiano Kaleebu, Emily L Webb, Neil Martinson, Francesca Chiodi, Julie Fox, Heather B Jaspan
The penile epithelial microbiome remains underexplored. We sequenced human RNA and a segment of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene from the foreskin tissue of 144 adolescents from South Africa and Uganda collected during penile circumcision after receipt of 1-2 doses of placebo, emtricitabine + tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, or emtricitabine + tenofovir alafenamide to investigate the microbiome of foreskin tissue and its potential changes with antiretroviral use. We identified a large number of anaerobic species, including Corynebacterium acnes, which was detected more frequently in participants from South Africa than Uganda...
November 2023: Heliyon