biostudies-literatureUnknown18(1)Xu T<h4>Background</h4>Periodontitis progression is accompanied by a succession of the oral microbiome. However, the dynamic microbial transitions that link different disease stages and contribute to disease progression remain incompletely understood.<h4>Objective</h4>This study aims to identify microbial taxa that may serve as potential drivers underlying increasing severity of periodontitis.<h4>Design</h4>Subgingival sample 16S rRNA gene sequencing data were reprocessed for quality control and taxonomic annotation. MaAsLin2 was used to identify microbial differences between groups, and co-occurrence networks were built based on the differential taxa. NetMoss algorithm was applied to identify key microbes driving the transition from health to periodontitis. Correlation and mediation analyses Journal of oral microbiology2609452https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC12777760biostudies-literatureUnveiling potential driver taxa in subgingival plaque and their roles in mediating periodontitis progression.PMC12777760Zeng QXu TWei ZZhi MFeng QfalseUnveiling potential driver taxa in subgingival plaque and their roles in mediating periodontitis progression.<h4>Background</h4>Periodontitis progression is accompanied by a succession of the oral microbiome. However, the dynamic microbial transitions that link different disease stages and contribute to disease progression remain incompletely understood.<h4>Objective</h4>This study aims to identify microbial taxa that may serve as potential drivers underlying increasing severity of periodontitis.<h4>Design</h4>Subgingival sample 16S rRNA gene sequencing data were reprocessed for quality control and taxonomic annotation. MaAsLin2 was used to identify microbial differences between groups, and co-occurrence networks were built based on the differential taxa. NetMoss algorithm was applied to identify key microbes driving the transition from health to periodontitis. Correlation and mediation analyses 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z20262026-06-09T05:29:04.385Z2026-06-09T03:07:22.454ZS-EPMC127777604150903810.1080/20002297.2025.2609452