ABSTRACT

Background: A few recent studies have characterized the salivary microbiome in association with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Here, we sought to assess if there is an association between the tongue microbiome and ASD.

Methods: Tongue scrapping samples were obtained from 25 children with ASD and 38 neurotypical controls. The samples were sequenced for the 16S rRNA gene (V1-V3) and the resultant high-quality reads were assigned to the species-level using our previously described BLASTn-based algorithm. Downstream analyses of microbial profiles were conducted using QIIME, LEfSe, and R.

Results: Independent of grouping, Prevotella, Streptococcus, Leptotrichia, Veillonella, Haemophilus and Rothia accounted for > 60% of the average microbiome. Haemophilus parainfluenzae, Rothia mucilaginosa, Prevotella melaninogenica and Neisseria flavescens/subflava were the most abundant species. Species richness and diversity did not significantly differ between the study groups. Thirteen species and three genera were differentially abundant between the two groups, e.g. enrichment of Actinomyces odontolyticus and Actinomyces lingnae and depletion of Campylobacter concisus and Streptococcus vestibularis in the ASD group. However, none of them withstood adjustment for multiple comparisons.

Conclusion: The tongue microbiome of children with ASD was not significantly different from that of healthy control children, which is largely consistent with results from the literature.

摘要

背景：最近的一些研究描述了与自闭症谱系障碍 (ASD) 相关的唾液微生物组。在这里，我们试图评估舌头微生物群与 ASD 之间是否存在关联。

方法：从 25 名 ASD 儿童和 38 名神经典型对照组获得舌刮样本。对样品进行16S rRNA基因 (V1-V3)测序，使用我们之前描述的基于 BLASTn 的算法将得到的高质量读数分配到物种水平。使用 QIIME、LEfSe 和 R 进行微生物特征的下游分析。

结果：独立于分组，普氏菌属、链球菌属、细链球菌属、韦永氏菌属、嗜血杆菌属和罗氏菌属占平均微生物组的 60% 以上。副流感嗜血杆菌、Rothia mucilaginosa、Prevotella melaninogenica和Neisseria flavescens/subflava是最丰富的物种。研究组之间的物种丰富度和多样性没有显着差异。13种和三个属两组，例如富集之间差异丰富的放线odontolyticus和放线菌lingnae和枯竭弯曲杆菌concisus和链球菌前庭在 ASD 组中。然而，他们都没有经受住多重比较的调整。

结论: ASD 儿童的舌微生物组与健康对照儿童的舌微生物组没有显着差异，这与文献结果基本一致。