Keystone salivary mycobiome in postpartum period in health and disease conditions.

Despite of known pathogenic potential of human mycobiome in initiation and progression of oral disorders, it is poorly characterized and understudied due to its small number in oral cavity. In the present study, salivary mycobiome of three postpartum females along with one healthy non-pregnant female was investigated by targeting ITS region. A total of 55 genera and 92 species were detected with predominant genera: Candida (12.2%) followed by Saccharomyces (9.27%), Phialosimplex (9.19%), Termitomyces (6.96%), Penicillium (6.85%), Aspergillus (6.56%), Olpidium (5.15%), Cochliobolus (4.78%), Malassezia (4.61%), Neurospora (4.3%), and Cristinia (3.04%) in all samples. Diversity increase was observed in postpartum group as compared to non-pregnant female. Stachybotrys, Geotrichum, Talaromyces, Leucosporidium, Acremonium, Wallemia, Eupenicillium, Septoria, Zymoseptoria, Coniosporium, Phialophora , and Mycosphaerella were genera detected only in postpartum group. Postpartum female with gingivitis and dental caries showed greater abundance of genus Saccharomyces, Phialosimplex, Candida, Olpidium, Cochliobolus, Malaseezia, Hyphodontia, Debaryomyces, Mrakia, and Nakaseomyces as compared to those postpartum females with good oral health. Among postpartum group female with oral health issues as well as who had preterm low weight birth (PLWB), showed reduced richness, evenness with elevated levels of Saccharomyces, Candida, Hyphodontia and Malassezia compared to the female having full term birth (FTB). These findings showed that, pregnancy with or without oral health issues is associated with oral microbial diversity change and there might be an association of changing fungal diversity with adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs) like pre-term birth (PTB) and low weight birth (LWB). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]