Human Oral Subgingival Plaque Microbiome. human oral metagenome

The oral microbiome, the complex ecosystem of microbes inhabiting the human mouth, harbors several thousands of bacterial types. The proliferation of pathogenic bacteria within the mouth gives rise to periodontitis, an inflammatory disease known to also constitute a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. While much is known about individual species associated with pathogenesis, the system-level mechanisms underlying the transition from health to disease are still poorly understood. Our pilot study demonstrates the power of high-throughput sequencing as a tool for understanding the role of the oral microbiome in periodontal disease. After the removal of supragingival plaque with sterile gauze, individual subgingival plaque samples were taken from the meio-buccal aspect of four molar teeth in four quadrants per subject using sterile periodontal curettes. Bacterial DNA extraction was performed using commercially available DNA purification kit. For 16S rRNA sequencing, DNA samples were amplified using specific primers and sequenced by 454 machines. Metagenomic shotgun sequences were obtained from the Illumina instruments.