Sex-specific differences in the occurrence of Fusobacterium nucleatum subspecies and Fusobacterium periodonticum in the oral cavity.

ABSTRACT: The periodontitis-associated species Fusobacterium nucleatum (FN) has been implicated in several extra-oral diseases, including preterm birth and colorectal cancer. Due to its genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity, FN is classified in four subspecies which may differ in their disease potential. Here we compared the prevalence of FN subspecies and the close relative F. periodonticum (FP) via 16S rRNA gene analysis in saliva from 100 healthy individuals (60 females, and 40 males) from eleven countries spanning five continents. By focusing on the most abundant sequence types (i.e. analysis of approximately ten clone sequences each) the average number of FN/FP subspecies per individual differed significantly between females and males, i.e. 2.93 versus 2.5, respectively (P =

SUBMITTER: Henne K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5945502 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature