Characterising healthy Australian oral microbiomes for 'super donor' selection

Area of Science:

• Microbiome research
• Oral health
• Human microbiome

Background:

• Limited understanding of factors shaping oral microbiota in healthy individuals.
• Sociodemographic, lifestyle, and hygiene behaviors significantly influence oral microbial communities.
• Need for identifying healthy oral microbiota donors for Oral Microbiota Transplantation (OMT).

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate the influence of sociodemographic, lifestyle, and dental hygiene behaviors on oral microbiota diversity and composition in Australians.
• Identify key factors shaping the healthy oral microbiome.
• Inform donor selection for OMT.

Main Methods:

• Study included 93 healthy adults with no active oral or systemic diseases.
• Collected supragingival plaque for 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing.
• Utilized redundancy analysis (RDA), adonis, differential abundance, and correlation analyses to identify driving factors.

Main Results:

• Streptococcus and Corynebacterium were the most prevalent genera.
• Higher alpha and beta diversity observed in unemployed, non-Australian-born students with low carbohydrate/fat/sugar intake and infrequent dental visits.
• Significant associations found between microbiome composition and factors like diet, birthplace, employment, and dental visit frequency.

Conclusions:

• Oral microbiome diversity is significantly influenced by sociodemographic, lifestyle, and dietary factors.
• Non-Australian birthplace, unemployment, diet, and infrequent dental visits are associated with variations in oral microbiome diversity.
• These factors are important for oral health management and OMT donor selection.