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Review
. 2021 Jun;86(1):79-96.
doi: 10.1111/prd.12363. Epub 2021 Mar 10.

The human oral phageome

Szymon P Szafrański  1 , Jørgen Slots  2 , Meike Stiesch  1
Affiliations
Free article
Review

The human oral phageome

Szymon P Szafrański et al. Periodontol 2000. 2021 Jun.
Free article

Abstract

Oral bacteriophages (or phages), especially periodontal ones, constitute a growing area of interest, but research on oral phages is still in its infancy. Phages are bacterial viruses that may persist as intracellular parasitic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) or use bacterial metabolism to replicate and cause bacterial lysis. The microbiomes of saliva, oral mucosa, and dental plaque contain active phage virions, bacterial lysogens (ie, carrying dormant prophages), and bacterial strains containing short fragments of phage DNA. In excess of 2000 oral phages have been confirmed or predicted to infect species of the phyla Actinobacteria (>300 phages), Bacteroidetes (>300 phages), Firmicutes (>1000 phages), Fusobacteria (>200 phages), and Proteobacteria (>700 phages) and three additional phyla (few phages only). This article assesses the current knowledge of the diversity of the oral phage population and the mechanisms by which phages may impact the ecology of oral biofilms. The potential use of phage-based therapy to control major periodontal pathogens is also discussed.

Keywords: bacteriophage; dental plaque; microbiome; oral cavity; periodontal disease; phage therapy; phageome.

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References

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