Publication
Heritage-specific oral microbiota in Indigenous Australian dental calculus
Publisher:
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date:
2022
DOI:
10.1093/EMPH/EOAC024
Abstract: Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders (hereafter respectfully referred to as Indigenous Australians) experience a high burden of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Increased NCD risk is linked to oral diseases mediated by the oral microbiota, a microbial community influenced by both vertical transmission and lifestyle factors. As an initial step towards understanding the oral microbiota as a factor in Indigenous health, we present the first investigation of oral microbiota in Indigenous Australian adults. Dental calculus s les from Indigenous Australians with periodontal disease (PD n = 13) and non-Indigenous in iduals both with (n = 19) and without PD (n = 20) were characterized using 16S ribosomal RNA gene licon sequencing. Alpha and beta ersity, differentially abundant microbial taxa and taxa unique to different participant groups were analysed using QIIME2. S les from Indigenous Australians were more phylogenetically erse (Kruskal–Wallis H = 19.86, P = 8.3 × 10−6), differed significantly in composition from non-Indigenous s les (PERMANOVA pseudo-F = 10.42, P = 0.001) and contained a relatively high proportion of unique taxa not previously reported in the human oral microbiota (e.g. Endomicrobia). These patterns were robust to stratification by PD status. Oral microbiota ersity and composition also differed between Indigenous in iduals living in different geographic regions. Indigenous Australians may harbour unique oral microbiota shaped by their long relationships with Country (ancestral homelands). Our findings have implications for understanding the origins of oral and systemic NCDs and for the inclusion of Indigenous peoples in microbiota research, highlighting the microbiota as a novel field of enquiry to improve Indigenous health.