Toothbrush microbiomes feature a meeting ground for human oral and environmental microbiota. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • BACKGROUND: While indoor microbiomes impact our health and well-being, much remains unknown about taxonomic and functional transitions that occur in human-derived microbial communities once they are transferred away from human hosts. Toothbrushes are a model to investigate the potential response of oral-derived microbiota to conditions of the built environment. Here, we characterize metagenomes of toothbrushes from 34 subjects to define the toothbrush microbiome and resistome and possible influential factors. RESULTS: Toothbrush microbiomes often comprised a dominant subset of human oral taxa and less abundant or site-specific environmental strains. Although toothbrushes contained lower taxonomic diversity than oral-associated counterparts (determined by comparison with the Human Microbiome Project), they had relatively broader antimicrobial resistance gene (ARG) profiles. Toothbrush resistomes were enriched with a variety of ARGs, notably those conferring multidrug efflux and putative resistance to triclosan, which were primarily attributable to versatile environmental taxa. Toothbrush microbial communities and resistomes correlated with a variety of factors linked to personal health, dental hygiene, and bathroom features. CONCLUSIONS: Selective pressures in the built environment may shape the dynamic mixture of human (primarily oral-associated) and environmental microbiota that encounter each other on toothbrushes. Harboring a microbial diversity and resistome distinct from human-associated counterparts suggests toothbrushes could potentially serve as a reservoir that may enable the transfer of ARGs. Video abstract.

publication date

  • January 31, 2021

Research

keywords

  • Built Environment
  • Microbiota
  • Mouth
  • Toothbrushing

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC7849112

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85100204213

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1111/j.1654-1103.2003.tb02228.x

PubMed ID

  • 33517907

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 9

issue

  • 1