Abstract
The genus Veillonella is a common and abundant member of the oral microbiome. It includes eight species, V. atypica, V. denticariosi, V. dispar, V. infantium, V. nakazawae, V. parvula, V. rogosae and V. tobetusensis. They possess important metabolic pathways that utilize lactate as an energy source. However, the overall metabolome of these species has not been studied. To further understand the metabolic framework of Veillonella in the human oral microbiome, we conducted a comparative pan-genome analysis of the eight species of oral Veillonella. Analysis of the oral Veillonella pan-genome revealed features based on KEGG pathway information to adapt to the oral environment. We found that the fructose metabolic pathway was conserved in all oral Veillonella species, and oral Veillonella have conserved pathways that utilize carbohydrates other than lactate as an energy source. This discovery may help to better understand the metabolic network among oral microbiomes and will provide guidance for the design of future in silico and in vitro studies.
Highlights
IntroductionThe genus Veillonella includes 15 recognized species [2]
V. atypica, V. denticariosi, V. infantium and V. rogosae were cultured on BactoTM Brain Heart Infusion (Difco Laboratories BD) agar supplemented with 5% defibrinated sheep blood and incubated under anaerobic conditions (N2 :H2 :CO2 = 80:20:20) at 37 ◦ C for 5 days prior to DNA isolation
The largest number of accessory genes was 450, which were found in V. rogosae, while the smallest number of accessory genes was 287, in V. denticariosi
Summary
The genus Veillonella includes 15 recognized species [2]. With the exception of Veillonella criceti, V. ratti and V. seminalis, they appear unable to ferment carbohydrates or amino acids [3,4,5]. Veillonella have been shown to ferment short-chain organic acids, especially lactate, as a source of energy, and subsequently transform it to acetate and propionate [1,6,7,8]. Regarding the unique physiology of these species, it was recently reported that the relative abundance of Veillonella in the gut is significantly associated with increased performance in marathon running [9].
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