The oral microbiome profile of young water polo players

Abstract Objectives. Adverse changes in the constitution of oral cavity microbiota may have serious health consequences. We hypothesized that the oral cavity microbiota community in water polo players may differ from others. Our aims were to determine the composition of the oral microbiome of elite water polo players and to compare their oral microbiome to that of non-athletes. Materials and Methods Elite water polo players (n: 29) and non-athletes (n: 16) aged between 16–20 were studied. The oral microbiome was determined from a saliva sample, DNA was isolated by the QIAmp DNA Blood Mini Kit. The 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing method was used to analyse the microbiome community. PCR primers were trimmed from the sequence reads with cutadapt. R library DADA2 was used to process reads in the abundance analysis. Results In general, Streptococcus, Veilonella and Prevotella genera constituted more than 50% of the oral microbiome community of the studied youth. The oral microbial profile had significant sexual dimorphism and differed between water polo players and the non-athletes. Males had a significantly higher relative abundance of the Atopobium and Pravotella_7 genera and a significantly lower relative abundance of the Fusobacterium, Gemella and Streptococcus genera as compared to their female counterparts. Compared to non-athletes, water polo players had significantly higher relative abundance of the genus Veillonella, and lower relative abundance of the genus Gemella. Conclusion The results confirm that regular water training can alter the composition of the oral microbial community.