Phylogene and its MS Phylogene department developed 'omics' services for cosmetics substantiation on skin and microbiome, and ingredients traceability.
Omics techniques are now recognised in many domains including cosmetic science. Among new omics techniques, very practical approaches are now powerful, like high resolution proteomics with mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and dedicated bioinformatics, or metagenomics with next genome sequencing (NGS).
Giant strides of LC-MS/MS proteomics
In recent years, LC-MS/MS proteomics has madehuge progress. All the proteins coded by 19600 genes are visible and routinely more than 2000 'housekeeping' proteins, in charge of cell working are identified and quantified. Unlike DNAs or RNAs which give information on events which may or will occur, proteins are, indeed, the primary players in the cell’s function and structure.
Proteins give the best view on what occurs in the skin sample. Furthermore the untargeted approach as used here gives the information on the expected and unexpected effects of the tested active.
With LC-MS/MS proteomics, a quantitative comparison of all the proteins in two complex samples is achieved. In concrete terms, samples of skin explants, reconstituted skin, D-Squame, microbiome swabs, fibroblasts, keratinocytes or other biopsies after being subjected to an active are compared with their placebo control. The platform is able to identify more than 2000 different proteins per sample and measure their relative amounts compared to the placebo treated sample. Then, bioinformatics tools available in the Coravalid modules describe which pathways are activated by the active and what are the incurred phenomenon on skin and/or microbiome.
Events occurring on biological processes, molecular functions and cellular components are obtained, and claims recommendations can be produced.
In addition, LC-MS/MS proteomics is the only approach which examines simultaneously the skin and its microbiome. Thus a good tool in understanding if the skin disorder modifies the microbiome or if the microbiome disorder damages the skin.
NGS for microbiome characterisation
Metagenomics refers to the study of genomic DNA obtained from microorganisms that cannot be cultured in the laboratory.
This represents the vast majority of terrestrial microorganisms. NGS delivers a huge amount of amplicon sequences. An informative marker - such as the 16S rRNA gene - is amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequenced.
This provides abundance, diversity and identity of microbes in a sample, and taxonomic
composition and phylogenetic structure of a microbial community expressed as OTUs (Operational taxonomic units).This way, the effect on the microbiome of an active applied on the skin can be evaluated.
In addition, this approach can be used for determining the origin of an ingredient. For example, the microbiome which can be taken on plant leaves is a signature of the plant environment, and is a guarantee of the ingredient geographical origin.
