Influence of Oral Microbiome on Human Health: an Overview

Abstract

The human microbiome can be considered a counterpart of the human genome. The genes in our microbiome outnumber the genes in the human genome by about 100 to 1Advances in DNA sequencing technologies have created a new field of research, called metagenomics. Microbiome projects worldwide have been launched with the goal of understanding the roles that these symbionts play and their impacts on human health. The advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies and their applications on human populations have led to the identification of a large catalog of rare and common variants. The Human Microbiome Project (HMP) has analysed the largest cohort and set of distinct, clinically relevant body habitats so far. The richest area in terms of total numbers of microbes in the body is the human gut. The relationship between the oral microbiome and its host is dynamic. The oral microbiome is also considered a key cause of oral diseases, including dental caries and periodontal diseases, as well as many systemic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases and disorders like Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Metagenomics and metabolomics based reserach is providing a multidimensional picture of the microbiome community, revealing its genetic potential and metabolic activities. In this paper an overview is given on metagenomics and the human oral microbiome.