The salivary virome during childhood dental caries

Abstract

Dental caries is the most common chronic infectious disease worldwide and is caused by dysbiosis of the oral microbiome featuring an increased abundance of acid-tolerant, acid-producing, and biofilm-forming bacteria. The oral microbiome also contains viruses; however, very little is known about the caries-associated virome. In this study, the salivary virome of children with severe caries was compared to the salivary virome of children with healthy dentition. The metagenomes contained a total of 1,865 unique species-level viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs), of which 478 appeared to be novel. The viromes from the children with caries were significantly different than the viromes from the children with healthy teeth, and several health- and disease-associated vOTUs were identified. This study illustrated the potential importance of the oral virome in the context of dental caries and serves as a step towards a better understanding of oral inter-kingdom interactions and identification of potential phage-based caries therapeutics.