Characterization of the salivary microbiome in people with obesity

The interactions between the gut microbiome and obesity have been extensively studied. Although the oral cavity is the gateway to the gut, and is extensively colonized with microbes, little is known about the oral microbiome in people with obesity. In the present study, we investigated the salivary microbiome in obese and normal weight healthy participants using metagenomic analysis. The subjects were categorized into two groups, obesity and normal weight, based on their BMIs.

We characterized the salivary microbiome of 33 adults with obesity and 29 normal weight controls using high-throughput sequencing of the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene (Illumina MiSeq). None of the selected participants had systemic, oral mucosal, or periodontal diseases.

The salivary microbiome of the obesity group was distinct from that of the normal weight group. The salivary microbiome of periodontally healthy people with obesity had both significantly lower bacterial diversity and richness compared with the controls. The genus Prevotella, Granulicatella, Peptostreptococcus, Solobacterium, Catonella, and Mogibacterium were significantly more abundant in the obesity group; meanwhile the genus Haemophilus, Corynebacterium, Capnocytophaga, and Staphylococcus were less abundant in the obesity group. We also performed a functional analysis of the inferred metagenomes, and showed that the salivary community associated with obesity had a stronger signature of immune disease and a decreased functional signature related to environmental adaptation and Xenobiotics biodegradation compared with the normal weight controls.

Our study demonstrates that the microbial diversity and structure of the salivary microbiome in people with obesity are significantly different from those of normal weight controls. These results suggested that changes in the structure and function of salivary microbiome in people with obesity might reflect their susceptibility to oral diseases.