Comparison of the oral microbiome of siblings using next-generation sequencing: a pilot study

Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the oral microbiome of siblings with and without dental caries using next-generation sequencing. Materials and Methods: To investigate the oral microbiome composition, 14 young siblings, seven with caries and seven without, were enrolled from seven sibling-pair families. Supragingival plaque samples were collected from the cervicobuccal area of posterior teeth. All samples were analyzed by pyrosequencing, based on the 16S rRNA gene hypervariable regions, V1–V4. Results: The organisms identified belonged to 65 genera. Fifty-two genera were identified in the subjects with caries and 58 in those without; 45 genera were shared by both groups. In the Shannon index, the caries group showed lower bacterial diversity than the caries-free group and the difference was significant (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, P < 0.05). Additionally, similarities between siblings were evident in analyses based on weighted UniFrac distances (P < 0.05). Conclusions: In this study, the diversity of the microbiome was reduced in subjects with dental caries, while similarity between siblings seemed to be retained.