Investigations of the Oral Microbiota in Health and Disease in Companion Animals

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Veterinary Clinical Studies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 July 2024 | Viewed by 8358

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Adjunct Professor, Department of Oral Medicine, Penn Dental Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Interests: ulcerative stomatitis; cytokines in oral lesions; oral medicine; oral disease and systemic disease; geriatric dental patients; animal models of human disease

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Guest Editor
1. AnimalBiome, Oakland, CA, USA
2. University of California, Davis, CA, USA
Interests: animal microbiome analyses – fecal, oral, other; microbiome restoration strategies; microbial ecology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
AnimalBiome, Oakland, CA, USA
Interests: microbiome; companion animals; gastrointestinal health; blood microbiome

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Current techniques for microbiome analysis have revolutionized our understanding of the crosstalk between the host immune system and host-associated microbes in both healthy and diseased states. Complex ecosystems of microorganisms live in association with animal hosts, and of these, the microbial ecosystems in the oral cavity are amongst the most complex. Commensal bacteria in oral mucosa play key roles in the development and functioning of the host immune system. Likewise, the immune systems of companion animals have co-evolved to support this alliance with commensal bacteria.

Mucosal surfaces in the oral cavity are continually barraged with food and airborne antigens entering the gastrointestinal tract that may trigger immune responses. At the same time the oral mucosa provide barriers to colonization and penetration by infectious agents. Interactions between the microbiome and innate and adaptive arms of host immunity help the host to respond appropriately to these triggers. Depletion of commensal bacteria in the microbiome because of antibiotic use may be contributing to a rise in allergies, autoimmune conditions, and inflammatory disorders.

The focus of this series is to highlight publications that elucidate the role of the oral microbiome in companion animal medicine. The scope will include investigations in oral health and disease states which are inflammatory, neoplastic, or immune mediated in nature. Disease states such as Feline Gingivostomatitis, tooth resorption, periodontal disease, oral neoplasms, and idiopathic immune disorders are relevant.

Through this targeted series we aim to add meaningful content to the current body of veterinary literature on the role of the oral microbiome in health and disease. We invite manuscripts of original clinical research addressing veterinary microbiology and oral health in companion animals.

Dr. Jamie Gail Anderson
Dr. Holly H. Ganz
Dr. Elisa Scarsella
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • oral
  • microbiota
  • microbiome
  • dysbiosis
  • mucosal immune system
  • next-generation-sequencing
  • veterinary species

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 1873 KiB  
Article
Longitudinal Analysis of Canine Oral Microbiome Using Whole Genome Sequencing in Aging Companion Dogs
by Ginger B. Templeton, Gilad Fefer, Beth C. Case, Jeff Roach, M. Andrea Azcarate-Peril, Margaret E. Gruen, Benjamin J. Callahan and Natasha J. Olby
Animals 2023, 13(24), 3846; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13243846 - 14 Dec 2023
Viewed by 3498
Abstract
Aged companion dogs have a high prevalence of periodontal disease and canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CCDS) and the two disorders are correlated. Similarly, periodontal disease and Alzheimer’s Disease are correlated in people. However, little is known about the oral microbiota of aging dogs. [...] Read more.
Aged companion dogs have a high prevalence of periodontal disease and canine cognitive dysfunction syndrome (CCDS) and the two disorders are correlated. Similarly, periodontal disease and Alzheimer’s Disease are correlated in people. However, little is known about the oral microbiota of aging dogs. The goal of this project was to characterize the longitudinal changes in oral microbiota in aged dogs. Oral swabs were taken from ten senior client-owned dogs on 2–3 occasions spanning 24 months and they underwent whole genome shotgun (WGS) sequencing. Cognitive status was established at each sampling time. A statistically significant increase in alpha diversity for bacterial and fungal species was observed between the first and last study visits. Bacteroidetes and proteobacteria were the most abundant bacterial phyla. Porphyromonas gulae was the most abundant bacterial species (11.6% of total reads). The species Lactobacillus gasseri had a statistically significant increase in relative abundance with age whereas Leptotrichia sp. oral taxon 212 had a statistically significant positive longitudinal association with cognition score. There is an increased fungal and bacterial alpha diversity in aging dogs over time and nearly universal oral dysbiosis. The role of the oral microbiota, particularly Leptotrichia and P. gulae and P. gingivalis, in aging and CCDS warrants further investigation. Full article
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18 pages, 2560 KiB  
Article
A Comparison of the Oral Microbiota in Healthy Dogs and Dogs with Oral Tumors
by Anja Lisjak, Bruna Correa Lopes, Rachel Pilla, Ana Nemec, Jan S. Suchodolski and Nataša Tozon
Animals 2023, 13(23), 3594; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13233594 - 21 Nov 2023
Viewed by 1945
Abstract
The aim of this study was to further describe the oral microbiota of healthy dogs by DNA shotgun sequencing and compare those to dogs with oral tumors. Oral swabs (representative of all niches of the oral cavity) were collected from healthy dogs (n [...] Read more.
The aim of this study was to further describe the oral microbiota of healthy dogs by DNA shotgun sequencing and compare those to dogs with oral tumors. Oral swabs (representative of all niches of the oral cavity) were collected from healthy dogs (n = 24) and from dogs with different oral tumors (n = 7). DNA was extracted from the swabs and shotgun metagenomic sequencing was performed. Only minor differences in microbiota composition were observed between the two groups. At the phylum level, the Bacteroidota, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteriota, Desulfobacterota and Firmicutes were most abundant in both groups. Observed Operational Taxonomic Units—OTUs (species richness) was significantly higher in the healthy patients, but there was no significant difference in the Shannon diversity index between the groups. No significant difference was found in beta diversity between the groups. The core oral microbiota consisted of 67 bacterial species that were identified in all 24 healthy dogs. Our study provides further insight into the composition of the oral microbiota of healthy dogs and in dogs with oral tumors. Full article
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20 pages, 3942 KiB  
Article
The Oral Microbiome across Oral Sites in Cats with Chronic Gingivostomatitis, Periodontal Disease, and Tooth Resorption Compared with Healthy Cats
by Jamie G. Anderson, Connie A. Rojas, Elisa Scarsella, Zhandra Entrolezo, Guillaume Jospin, Sharon L. Hoffman, Judy Force, Roxane H. MacLellan, Mike Peak, Bonnie H. Shope, Anson J. Tsugawa and Holly H. Ganz
Animals 2023, 13(22), 3544; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13223544 - 16 Nov 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2490
Abstract
Feline chronic gingivostomatitis (FCGS) is a chronic mucosal and gingival inflammatory disease in which pathogenesis remains unclear. Interactions between the host inflammatory process, the host immune response, and the oral microbiome are implicated in this pathogenesis. To begin to understand this disease and [...] Read more.
Feline chronic gingivostomatitis (FCGS) is a chronic mucosal and gingival inflammatory disease in which pathogenesis remains unclear. Interactions between the host inflammatory process, the host immune response, and the oral microbiome are implicated in this pathogenesis. To begin to understand this disease and the impact of the microbiome to host inflammatory disease states, we collected sterile noninvasive plaque biofilm samples from ten distinct sites within the oral cavity in cats with stomatitis (n = 12), healthy cats (n = 9), and cats with tooth resorption or periodontitis (n = 11). Analysis of full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences indicated that the microbiomes of cats with FCGS presented marked dysbiosis at multiple oral sites. Additionally, microbiome beta diversity varied with oral condition, indicating that stomatitis, periodontitis, and/or tooth resorption influence the microbiome differently. Lastly, we found that the microbiomes of swabs taken from the oral cavity were comparable to those taken from plaque using endodontic paper points, validating this as another sampling method. Collectively, our work furthers our understanding of the dysbiosis and composition of bacteria in the oral microbiome in FCGS, with hopes of contributing to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of this challenging condition in felines. Full article
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