Abstract
Background:
Candida species have been long recognised as aetiological agents of opportunistic infections of the oral mucosa, and more recently, as players of polymicrobial interactions driving caries, periodontitis and oral carcinogenesis.
Methods:
We studied the clonal structure of Candida spp. at oral niche resolution in patients (n=20) presenting with a range of oral health profiles over 22 months. Colonies from key oral micro-environments were examined with multilocus sequencing typing.
Results: Candida spp. identified were C. albicans, C. glabrata and C. dubliniensis. Increased propensity for micro-variations giving rise to multiple diploid strain types (DST), as a result of loss of heterozygosity, was observed among C. albicans clade 1 isolates compared to other clades. Micro-variations among isolates were also observed in C. dubliniensis contra to expectations of stable population structures for this species. Multiple sequence types were retrieved from patients without clinical evidence of oral candidosis, while single sequence types were isolated from oral candidosis patients.
Conclusion: This is the first study to describe the clonal population structure, persistence and stability of Candida spp. at oral niche level. Future research investigating links between Candida spp. clonality and oral disease should recognise the propensity to micro-variations amongst oral niches in C. albicans and C. dubliniensis identified here.
Candida species have been long recognised as aetiological agents of opportunistic infections of the oral mucosa, and more recently, as players of polymicrobial interactions driving caries, periodontitis and oral carcinogenesis.
Methods:
We studied the clonal structure of Candida spp. at oral niche resolution in patients (n=20) presenting with a range of oral health profiles over 22 months. Colonies from key oral micro-environments were examined with multilocus sequencing typing.
Results: Candida spp. identified were C. albicans, C. glabrata and C. dubliniensis. Increased propensity for micro-variations giving rise to multiple diploid strain types (DST), as a result of loss of heterozygosity, was observed among C. albicans clade 1 isolates compared to other clades. Micro-variations among isolates were also observed in C. dubliniensis contra to expectations of stable population structures for this species. Multiple sequence types were retrieved from patients without clinical evidence of oral candidosis, while single sequence types were isolated from oral candidosis patients.
Conclusion: This is the first study to describe the clonal population structure, persistence and stability of Candida spp. at oral niche level. Future research investigating links between Candida spp. clonality and oral disease should recognise the propensity to micro-variations amongst oral niches in C. albicans and C. dubliniensis identified here.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 1894047 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Journal of Oral Microbiology |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 15 Mar 2021 |
Bibliographical note
AcknowledgementsWe thank Professor Frank Odds for MLST central database curation and useful discussions. NG acknowledges Wellcome support of a Senior Investigator (101873/Z/13/Z), Collaborative (200208/A/15/Z) and Strategic Awards (097377/Z11/Z) and the MRC Centre for Medical Mycology [MR/N006364/2]. AM acknowledges the support of MRC Doctoral Training Grant. We thank all patients for contributing to this study, clinical and administrative staff for valuable assistance in patient recruitment
Keywords
- oral niche
- Candida Albicans
- C. glabrata
- C. dubliniensis
- MLST
- strain types
- clonal evolution