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Biodiversity of the human oral mycobiome in health and disease
Author(s) -
Bandara Herath Mudiyansalage Herath Nihal,
Panduwawala Chamila P.,
Samaranayake Lakshman Perera
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
oral diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.953
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1601-0825
pISSN - 1354-523X
DOI - 10.1111/odi.12899
Subject(s) - microbiome , human microbiome , biology , human health , biodiversity , human disease , disease , human microbiome project , metagenomics , phylum , oral microbiome , evolutionary biology , ecology , genetics , gene , environmental health , medicine , pathology
The organisms that colonize the human body over a lifetime are diverse, extensive and gargantuan. A fair proportion of the microbiota that constitutes this human microbiome live within our oral cavities mostly as harmonious associates causing only sporadic disease. An important core constituent of the microbiome is the mycobiome, representing various fungal genera. Up until recently, only a few species of fungi, mainly Candida species, were thought to constitute the human oral mycobiome. The reasons for this are manifold, although the uncultivable nature of many fungi in conventional laboratory media, and their complex genetic composition seem to be the major factors which eluded their detection over the years. Nevertheless, recent advances in computing and high‐throughput sequencing such as next‐generation sequencing (NGS) platforms have provided us a panoramic view of a totally new world of fungi that are human oral cohabitués. Their diversity is perplexing, and functionality yet to be deciphered. Here, we provide a glimpse of what is currently known of the oral mycobiome, in health and disease, with some future perspectives.