Functional Profiling Reveals Altered Metabolic Activity in Divers' Oral Microbiota During Commercial Heliox...

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Environmental Health
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Saturation diving presents extreme environmental challenges impacting human-associated microbial communities.
• The oral cavity harbors a diverse bacterial population susceptible to environmental shifts.
• Understanding these microbial metabolic adaptations is crucial for diver health and performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate environmentally induced metabolic changes in oral bacteria during heliox saturation diving.
• To identify specific metabolic pathways affected by the diving environment.
• To assess potential implications for diver physiology and well-being.

Main Methods:

• Utilized PICRUSt2 for pathway abundance analysis on 16S rRNA metagenomic data.
• Analyzed oral microbiota samples from 23 male divers before, during, and after a 4-week saturation dive.
• Compared predicted metabolic pathway abundances to identify environmentally induced changes.

Main Results:

• Predicted transient shifts in bacterial metabolism favoring aerobic pathways.
• Observed a decrease in anaerobic pathways, including energy metabolism and oxidative stress responses.
• Noted a reduction in adenosylcobalamin (a form of vitamin B12) biosynthesis.

Conclusions:

• The diving environment promotes bacterial adaptation towards aerobic metabolism.
• Reduced vitamin B12 biosynthesis may impact diver physiology.
• Findings support current recommendations for vitamin B12 supplementation in divers' diets.