Salivary microbiome of healthy women of reproductive age

Abstract

ABSTRACT The human salivary microbial community plays a crucial role in local and systemic diseases. Biological and lifestyle factors such as menstrual cycle, oral hygiene, and smoking have been documented to impact this community. However, while hormonal contraceptives are the most prescribed drug in healthy women and intimate partners play key roles in microbial exchange between humans, their impact on the salivary microbiome of women of reproductive age have been understudied. Additionally, the role of other lifestyle factors such as diet, allergies, age, and stress on the saliva microbiome of the general population is not well understood. Here, we studied the salivary microbiome of 255 healthy women of reproductive age using self-sampling kits and 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing combined with questionnaires on lifestyle and host-related parameters. A preserved salivary bacterial community of 12 genera ( Actinobacillus, Actinomyces, Alloprevotella, Campylobacter, Fusobacterium, Gemella, Granulicatella, Leptotrichia, Neisseria, Prevotella, Streptococcus, and Veillonella ) was identified. Contrary to what we expected, the number of intimate partners or specific contraceptive use did not have a major impact on these bacterial communities. However, recent use of oral antibiotics was associated with a significant decrease in richness at genus level and increase in mean relative abundances of several taxa. Being stressed or nervous was associated with a significantly increased richness of the salivary microbiome at the level of amplicon sequencing variants . Nevertheless, these associations with host-related and lifestyle variables only appeared to be subtle, suggesting that the salivary microbiome is mainly driven by the buccal environment and health status of an individual. IMPORTANCE The salivary microbiome has been proven to play a crucial role in local and systemic diseases. Moreover, the effects of biological and lifestyle factors such as oral hygiene and smoking on this microbial community have already been explored. However, what was not yet well understood was the natural variation of the saliva microbiome in healthy women and how this is associated with specific use of hormonal contraception and with the number of different sexual partners with whom microbiome exchange is expected regularly. In this paper, we characterized the salivary microbiome of 255 healthy women of reproductive age using an in-depth questionnaire and self-sampling kits. Using the large metadata set, we were able to investigate the associations of several host-related and lifestyle variables with the salivary microbiome profiles. Our study shows a high preservation between individuals.