Abstract
Understanding the driving forces behind the shifts in the ecological balance of the oral microbiota will become essential for the future management and treatment of periodontitis. As the use of competitive approaches for modulating bacterial outgrowth is unexplored in the oral ecosystem, our study aimed to investigate both the associations among groups of functional compounds and the impact of individual substrates on selected members of the oral microbiome. We employed the Phenotype Microarray high-throughput technology to analyse the microbial cellular phenotypes of 15 oral bacteria. Multivariate statistical analysis was used to detect respiratory activity triggers and to assess similar metabolic activities. Carbon and nitrogen were relevant for the respiration of health-associated bacteria, explaining competitive interactions when grown in biofilms. Carbon, nitrogen, and peptides tended to decrease the respiratory activity of all pathobionts, but not significantly. None of the evaluated compounds significantly increased activity of pathobionts at both 24 and 48 h. Additionally, metabolite requirements of pathobionts were dissimilar, suggesting that collective modulation of their respiratory activity may be challenging. Flow cytometry indicated that the metabolic activity detected in the Biolog plates may not be a direct result of the number of bacterial cells. In addition, damage to the cell membrane may not influence overall respiratory activity. Our methodology confirmed previously reported competitive and collaborative interactions among bacterial groups, which could be used either as marker of health status or as targets for modulation of the oral environment.
Highlights
The oral cavity is inhabited by a large and complex microbial community (Aas et al, 2005) Structural, metabolic, and chemical interactions within the oral microbiome are fundamental for maintaining community homeostasis and a healthy microbiome (Hajishengallis et al, 2012)
Changes regarding the control were classified into High respiratory activity (H-RA), Low respiratory activity (L-RA), or Not Significantly different (NS) from the control using a Chi-square procedure
Our results indicated that the metabolite requirements of disease-associated bacteria are dissimilar, suggesting that collective modulation of their respiratory activity may be challenging
Summary
The oral cavity is inhabited by a large and complex microbial community (Aas et al, 2005) Structural, metabolic, and chemical interactions within the oral microbiome are fundamental for maintaining community homeostasis and a healthy microbiome (Hajishengallis et al, 2012). In this way, oral health entails microbiota in symbiosis with the host (Marsh, 2003). Taxonomic information may provide only partial comprehension of the function of each member within the community Principles such as substrate utilization must be considered when evaluating the impact of selected members of the oral microbiota on the host (Ramsey and Whiteley, 2009). This increased understanding of the metabolic activities of the oral microbiome may assist the successful management and personalized treatment of oral diseases in the future
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