Oral fungal microbiome Raw sequence reads
Caries is one of the most common chronic infectious diseases in the world, with a large proportion of children negatively impacted by the disease. Carious lesion inception and progression occurs when microbes ferment sugars and produce acids leading to demineralization of tooth enamel. Many studies have focused on the bacterial portion of the oral microbiome, while the fungal component has been much less intensively studied despite evidence that fungi contribute to increased acid production in the oral biofilm exacerbating enamel demineralization. HIV infection is another major global public health crisis which results in immunodeficiency. Perinatal HIV exposure with infection have been identified as potential risk factors for caries susceptibility, however the caries experience in the context of perinatal HIV exposure without infection is less clear. In this study, we use an amplicon sequencing approach of the fungal ITS1 region to determine the community composition of the oral mycobiome associated with health and caries progression in relation to HIV infection and exposure.We find mycobiome differences among the study groups that become pronounced during late-stage caries, with HIV infection associated with low taxonomic diversity. Notably, wewe show a stronger correlation with health-associated taxa for HIV-exposed-but- uninfected children when compared to unexposed and uninfected children. This aligns with a lower incidence of caries in primary teeth at age six or less for exposed yet uninfected children.Our findings provide a more complete picture of childhood caries etiology as it pertains to HIV infection and exposure. Ultimately, these findings could contribute to improved risk assessment and intervention and prevention strategies such as biofilm disruption and the informed design of pro-, pre- and synbiotic oral therapies.