Extent of Oral–Gut Transmission of Bacterial and Fungal Microbiota in Healthy Chinese Adults
Man Kit Cheung, Sylvia L. Y. Tong, Martin C. S. Wong, Jason Y. K. Chan, Margaret Ip, Mamie Hui, Christopher K.C. Lai, Rita W. Y. Ng, Wendy C. S. Ho, Apple C. M. Yeung, Paul K.S. Chan, Zigui Chen
Abstract
The oral-gut microbiota axis in health is a fundamentally important and clinically relevant topic; however, our current understanding of it remains biased and incomplete. By characterizing the bacterial and fungal microbiomes in paired oral rinse and stool samples from a large cohort of healthy Chinese adults, here we provided new evidence that oral-gut microbiota transmission is limited in non-Western population and across biological domains. Our study has established an important baseline of a healthy oral-gut microbiota axis, with which other disease conditions can be compared. Besides, our findings have practical implications that detection of a large amount of shared bacterial or fungal members between the oral cavity and gut within the same individual as an indicator of potential medical conditions.