Paper - Review

DOI: 10.1128/mSystems.00886-21

Abstract

Periodontal disease
→ is an inflammatory condition
← caused by poly-microbial infection

The inflammation
→ is initiated ← at the gingiva
→ extends → to the alveolar bone
∴ tooth loss

Previous studies
→ showed differences ← in bacterial composition
← between 1⃣ periodontal healthy 2⃣ diseased sites

Bacterial metabolic activities
← during the health-to-periodontitis microbiome shift
→ are still inadequately understood

❗: this study was performed
→ to investigate the bacterial characteristics ← of 1⃣ healthy 2⃣ gingivitis 3⃣ periodontitis statuses
→ through meta-transcriptomic analysis

Sub-gingival plaque samples
← of 1⃣ healthy 2⃣ gingivitis 3⃣ periodontitis sites
← in the same oral cavity
→ were collected ← from 21 patients

⭐: Bacterial compositions
→ were determined
← based on 16S rRNA reads
⭐: taxonomic & functional profiles
← derived from genes ← based on mRNA reads
→ were estimated

The results
→ showed clear differences ← in 1⃣ bacterial compositions 2⃣ functional profiles
← between healthy & periodontitis sites

Co-occurrence networks
→ were constructed → for each group by connecting two bacterial species
← if their mRNA abundances were positively correlated

❗: network complexity increased ← during gingivitis development
❗: network complexity decreased ← during progression to periodontitis

Taxa
→ showed greater transcriptional activities
← than those of red complex bacteria
← in conjunction with disease progression

These taxa were associated
← with periodontal disease progression

The health-to-periodontitis microbiome shift
→ was accompanied
← by alterations in 1⃣ bacterial network structure 2⃣ complexity

---