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Exploring the oral microflora of preschool children

  • Microbial Ecology and Environmental Microbiology
  • Published:
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Abstract

The oral cavity is one of the most important and complicated habitats in our body and supports diverse microbial communities. In this study, we aimed to determine the bacterial diversity and composition of various oral micro-niches. Samples were collected from supragingival plaque, saliva, and tongue coating from 10 preschool children (30 samples total). 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing dataset generated 314,639 clean reads with an average of 10,488 ± 2,787 reads per sample. The phyla Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Fusobacteria were predominant, accounting for more than 90% of the total sequences. We found the highest α diversity, microbial richness, and evenness in plaque, compared with saliva and tongue coating. Plaque was also distinguished from saliva and tongue coating by phylogenetic distances (weighted UniFrac). Taxa with different relative abundances were further identified, confirming the existence of microbial differences across the three niches. Core microbiomes were defined of each niche; however, only a small proportion of operational taxonomic units (8.07%) were shared by the three niches. Coaggregation between Actinomyces spp. and Streptococcus spp. and other correlations among periodontal pathogens, such as Prevotella, Fusobacteria, Capnocytophaga, and Tannerella, were shown by a co-occurrence network. In summary, our study provides a framework of oral microbial communities in the population of preschool children as a baseline for further studies of oral diseases related to microbes.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81300880), Academic Collaboration Fund (T.X.), and International S & T Cooperation Program of China (2014DFA31520).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Preventive Dentistry, Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, Beijing, 100081, P. R. China

    Wen Ren, Qun Zhang, Xuenan Liu, Shuguo Zheng & Tao Xu

  2. Stomatology Center, China-Japan Friendship Hospital, Beijing, 100029, P. R. China

    Lili Ma & Baohua Xu

  3. Central Laboratory, Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, Beijing, 100081, P. R. China

    Feng Chen

Authors
  1. Wen Ren
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  2. Qun Zhang
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  3. Xuenan Liu
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  4. Shuguo Zheng
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  5. Lili Ma
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  6. Feng Chen
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  7. Tao Xu
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  8. Baohua Xu
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Correspondence to Tao Xu or Baohua Xu.

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Ren, W., Zhang, Q., Liu, X. et al. Exploring the oral microflora of preschool children. J Microbiol. 55, 531–537 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-017-6474-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-017-6474-8

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