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. 2011;6(8):e23352.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0023352. Epub 2011 Aug 16.

High diversity of the saliva microbiome in Batwa Pygmies

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High diversity of the saliva microbiome in Batwa Pygmies

Ivan Nasidze et al. PLoS One. 2011.

Abstract

We describe the saliva microbiome diversity in Batwa Pygmies, a former hunter-gatherer group from Uganda, using next-generation sequencing of partial 16S rRNA sequences. Microbial community diversity in the Batwa is significantly higher than in agricultural groups from Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo. We found 40 microbial genera in the Batwa, which have previously not been described in the human oral cavity. The distinctive composition of the salvia microbiome of the Batwa may have been influenced by their recent different lifestyle and diet.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. A map of sampling locations and piecharts showing the frequencies of the 15 most common microbial genera in these groups.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Heat plot of the abundance of each bacterial genus in each individual, based on the partial 16S rRNA sequences.
Each numbered column corresponds to a genus, with the genus name for each number indicated in Table S1. Each row is an individual saliva sample. The abundance of each genus is indicated by the grayscale value, according to the scale at the bottom of the plot. BP – Batwa Pygmy; DRC – group from the Democratic Republic of the Congo; SL – group from Sierra Leone.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Rarefaction analysis of the number of bacterial genera detected in the three human groups as a function of the number of reads.
The data points represent averages of 1000 randomized resamplings without replacement.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Pairwise correlation matrix between data sets, both within groups and between groups.
The correlation coefficient values are indicated by the grayscale value, according to the scale at the bottom of the matrix.
Figure 5
Figure 5. Principal coordinate plot based on genera frequencies showing relationships among the oral microbiome composition in Batwa Pygmy and human groups from DRC and SL.
Color coding for each group is shown at the bottom of the figure.
Figure 6
Figure 6. Multidimentrional scaling plot based on UniFrac distances, showing relationships among individuals based on saliva microbiome composition.
Color coding for each group is the same as for Figure 5.

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