Oral Microbiota of Amazonian Kichwa Infants From Equador During the First Six Months of Life

Abstract

BackgroundFor public health policy, this study aimed to identify the oral microbiota in babies of the Amazonian Kichwa (AK) population of Ecuador born vaginally during the first six months of life.MethodThe study was descriptive, observational, cross‐sectional, where the bacterial communities of infants were analyzed. Twenty‐five infants self‐identified as AK were recruited from 2 rural areas (Ñucanchi‐Llacta and Pano) and one urban area (center of Tena) of Ecuador. Saliva samples were collected from the infants using the self‐collection kit. DNA was extracted from salivary samples, bacterial amplicons (16S) were generated and sequenced using Nanopore MinION, and the sequences were pre‐processed and data analyzed using EPI2ME.ResultsHigh bacterial diversity was observed in infants' saliva [2191 operational taxonomic units with 1% divergence]. Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were the predominant bacterial phyla present in all samples. A total of 10 bacterial genera were present in our data set. The predominant genera in infant saliva were Streptococcus, Staphylococcus, Bacillus, Gemella, and Veillonella.Conclusionour data show a rich bacterial community in the baby's oral cavity. The oral microbiota of the infants was relatively stable during the period studied and was very similar between them. Such similarity may result from maternal child care habits (e.g., kissing on the mouth). Further research is required to characterize the development of the oral microbiota early in life and identify environmental factors that affect colonization and the risk of oral and gastrointestinal diseases.