Abstract
Oral infections have a strong ethnic predilection; suggesting that ethnicity is a critical determinant of oral microbial colonization. Dental plaque and saliva samples from 192 subjects belonging to four major ethnicities in the United States were analyzed using terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (t-RFLP) and 16S pyrosequencing. Ethnicity-specific clustering of microbial communities was apparent in saliva and subgingival biofilms, and a machine-learning classifier was capable of identifying an individual’s ethnicity from subgingival microbial signatures. The classifier identified African Americans with a 100% sensitivity and 74% specificity and Caucasians with a 50% sensitivity and 91% specificity. The data demonstrates a significant association between ethnic affiliation and the composition of the oral microbiome; to the extent that these microbial signatures appear to be capable of discriminating between ethnicities.
Highlights
Personalized medicine is based on the paradigm that factors affecting disease susceptibility are unique to each individual and are significantly influenced by the genotype of the host, of which, gender, race/ethnicity and genetics are critical determinants
Clinical and Demographic Features We compared the oral microbial communities of 192 people belonging to four ethnic affiliations: non-Hispanic blacks (AA), non-Hispanic whites (CA), Chinese (CH), and Latinos (LA)
All subjects were free of systemic diseases, active caries, and periodontal diseases
Summary
Personalized medicine is based on the paradigm that factors affecting disease susceptibility are unique to each individual and are significantly influenced by the genotype of the host, of which, gender, race/ethnicity and genetics are critical determinants. This is true of diseases like diabetes, stroke and hypertension, and of acute and chronic microbial infections. Host genotype significantly affects susceptibility to cholera [1], pneumonia [2] and cystic fibrosis [3] While this could imply a genetic inability to mount an effective immune response to infections, several lines of evidence have emerged, showing that the host genotype plays an important role in bacterial colonization [4]. We investigated if variations in the composition of health-compatible oral biofilms can be attributable to an individual’s ethnic affiliation
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