Download Protective Skin Microbes Help Fight Off Disease

Objective – I can observe and summarize characteristics about bacteria.
Protective Skin Microbes Help Fight Off Disease
Wynne Parry, LiveScience Senior Writer
Date: 26 July 2012
A huge number of microbes live in our guts, on our skin and elsewhere on our bodies. These tiny
companions aren't freeloaders. At least some of them may help keep us healthy, increasing evidence
indicates.
New research looks at microbes living on skin. It says these bugs may help stimulate the body's
defenses.
"The skin, [without] microbes, is not [able] to [take care of] itself. It requires [these beneficial
microbes] to promote [resistance to] infection," researcher Yasmine Belkaid told LiveScience. She
studies the immunology of infectious disease at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
Diseases
The microbes appear to prepare immune cells (called T-cells). This prepares them to protect the
body, Belkaid said. She and others have identified a similar occurrence in the gut. Certain resident
microbes can stimulate T cells. The mechanics of this process in the gut, however, are different,
Belkaid said.
For this study, researchers gave skin-infecting parasites to mice with a healthy group of skin
microbes and to mice that did not have skin microbes.
They found the normal mice developed more noticeable red sores than the mice that didn’t have
the microbes. While this may sound strange, the inflamed sores were caused by the immune
response, not the parasites. The sores were actually good signs for the mice.
The researchers also added a skin microbe common in humans and mice, Staphylococcus
epidermis, to some of the microbe-free mice. This microbe by itself allowed the mice to mount an
immune response like the healthy mice with skin microbe.
Discoveries such as this one imply that some illnesses may be related to too little microbe
populations on the skin.
~1~
Objective – I can observe and summarize characteristics about bacteria.
Name __________________________________________________________
Protective Skin Microbes Help Fight Off Disease
1. A huge number of microbes live in/on our… (There are two answers to this question)
a. guts.
b. eyes.
c. skin.
d. feet.
2. Without microbes, the skin is not [able] to [take care of] itself.
a. True
b. False
3. The microbes appear to prepare immune cells, called ____________ to protect the body,
a. B cells
b. D cells
c. T cells
d. Z cells
4. For the study, researchers used…
a. gerbils.
b. mice.
c. rabbits.
d. rats.
5. This bacterium allowed the mice to mount an immune response like the healthy mice with skin
microbe.
a. Staphylococcus aureus
b. Staphylococcus epidermis
c. Staphylococcus haemolyticus
d. Staphylococcus saprophyticus
~2~
Objective – I can observe and summarize characteristics about bacteria.
Protective Skin Microbes Help Fight Off Disease – Key I
1. A huge number of microbes live in/on our… (There are two answers to this
question)
a. guts.
b. eyes.
c. skin.
d. feet.
a. guts.; c. skin.
2. Without microbes, the skin is not [able] to [take care of] itself.
a. True
b. False
a. True
3. The microbes appear to prepare immune cells, called ____________ to protect the
body,
a. B cells
b. D cells
c. T cells
d. Z cells
c. T cells
4. For the study, researchers used…
a. gerbils.
b. mice.
c. rabbits.
d. rats.
b. mice.
5. This bacterium allowed the mice to mount an immune response like the healthy
mice with skin microbe.
a. Staphylococcus aureus
b. Staphylococcus epidermis
c. Staphylococcus haemolyticus
d. Staphylococcus saprophyticus
b. Staphylococcus epidermis
~3~
Objective – I can observe and summarize characteristics about bacteria.
Protective Skin Microbes Help Fight Off Disease – Key II
1. a, c
2. a (2 choices)
3. c
4. b
5. b
~4~
Objective – I can observe and summarize characteristics about bacteria.
Five Facts About Your Microbiome/Protective
Skin Microbes Help Fight Off Disease
Scoring Guide
5–4
4 – 3.5
3–3
2 – 1.5
1 – .5
0–0
95-100% - 4
90-94% - 3.5
85-89% - 3
80-84% - 2.5
75-79% - 2
70-74% - 1.5
65-69% - 1
1-64% - .5
~5~