Characteristics of oral microbiomics with soldiers in the army before and after high-intensity physical training

Objectives

This paper aims to investigate the changes in soldiers' oral microbiome and metabolic levels after a month of high-intensity training.

Design

We collected saliva samples from 10 soldiers with good oral health and hygiene habits before and after training. Subsequently, DNA extraction, metagenomic sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis of the oral microbiome were conducted.

Results

7733 bacterial species from 113 known bacterial phyla and 2017 genera detected in 20 samples. The diversity and richness of saliva microorganisms before and after training were similar (p > 0.05), while beta diversity analysis showed structural differences in microbiota at the phylum and genus levels (p < 0.05). The relative abundance of 27 genera such as Proteobacteria, Neisseria, Morococcus cerebrosus and Eikenella in soldiers' saliva significantly increased after high-intensity training (p < 0.05). Conversely, the relative abundance of 20 genera such as Bacteroidota, Veillonella, Parvimonas micra, Prevotella oris, Peptostreptococcus, and Treponema decreased (p < 0.05). At the metabolic level, training resulted in a relative increase (p < 0.05) in various pathways, including amino acid metabolism, sulfur metabolism, glutathione metabolism, and Tyrosine metabolism. By comparison, after training, carbohydrate metabolism, glycan biosynthesis, metabolism, the HIF-1 signaling pathway, and necroptosis revealed a relative decrease (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

This paper reveals the changes in the saliva microbiome of soldiers after one month of high-intensity training, in which the relative abundance of biomarkers of periodontal disease, caries, and other oral diseases represented by peptostreptococcus, prevotella oris, treponema, etc., are significantly reduced, suggesting that long-term high-intensity training may have a positive effect on oral health.