Profiling The Salivary Microbiome In The Qatari Population

Abstract

Humans are living ecosystems composed of human cells and microbes. The microbiome is the collection of microbes and their genes. Recent breakthrough in the high throughput sequencing technologies made it possible for us to understand the composition of the human microbiome. Launched by the National Institutes of Health in USA, the human microbiome project indicated that our bodies harbor a wide array of microbes, specific to each body site with inter and intra-personal variabilities. Numerous studies have indicated that, the microbiome composition plays an important role in health and disease, thus highlighting the significance of microbiome research in human health. Saliva is a biofluid secreted from salivary glands composed of water, electrolytes, mucus, DNA, RNA, proteins, enzymes and microbes. Several studies assessed the role of the salivary microbiome in many conditions ranging from local diseases of the oral cavity such as dental carries and gingivitis to neurodevelopmental disease such as autism, indicating the potential of applying the knowledge generated from the salivary microbiome projects towards a better understanding of various pathological conditions. In this study, we aim to profile the salivary microbiome of the Qatari population and identify the oral microbial communities in individuals with diabetes or obesity. 100 saliva samples collected from Qatari participants, selected randomly, were retrieved from Qatar Biobank repository. Samples were collected by spitting in a tube. After microbial DNA extraction, 16S rRNA gene was sequenced using Illumina Miseq. Microbial profiles were then correlated with the individual phenotypic and clinical data to identify the microbial signatures associated with health and disease conditions, with special focus on diabetes and obesity due to the increasing prevalence rate of both conditions in Qatar.