AUTHOR=Mancini Annamaria , Cerulli Claudia , Vitucci Daniela , Lasorsa Vito Alessandro , Parente Daniela , Di Credico Andrea , Orrù Stefania , Brustio Paolo Riccardo , Lupo Corrado , Rainoldi Alberto , Schena Federico , Capasso Mario , Buono Pasqualina 

TITLE=Impact of active lifestyle on the primary school children saliva microbiota composition

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2023.1226891

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2023.1226891

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of Active or Sedentary lifestyle on saliva microbiota composition in Italian schoolchildren. 
Methods 114 male and female children (8-10 years) belonging to five primary schools in the neighborhoods of Turin were classified as active (A) or sedentary (S) based on PAQ-C-It questionnaire. PCR amplification of salivary DNA targeted the hypervariable V3-V4 regions of the 16S rRNA bacterial genes. DADA2 workflow was used to infer the Amplicon Sequence Variants and the taxonomic assignments; the beta-diversity was obtained by PCoA with the UniFrac method; LEfSe algorithm, threshold at 5%, and Log LDA cutoff at ± 0.5 were used to identify differently abundant species in A compared to S saliva sample.  Daily food intake was assessed by 3-Days food record. The metabolic potential of microbial communities was assessed by PICRUSt.
Results No significant differences were found in individual’s gender distribution (p=0.411), anthropometry, BMI (p>0.05), and all diet composition between A and S groups (p>0.05). 8 species were differently abundant: Prevotella nigrescens (LDA score = -3.76; FDR = 1.5x10-03), Collinsella aerofaciens (LDA score = -3.17; FDR = 7.45x10-03), Simonsiella muelleri (LDA score = -2.96; FDR = 2.76x10-05), Parabacteroides merdae (LDA score = -2.43; FDR = 1.3x10-02) are enriched in the A group; Gemella parahaemolysans, Prevotella aurantiaca (LDA score = -3.9; FDR = 5.27x10-04), Prevotella pallens (LDA score = 4.23; FDR = 1.93x10-02), Neisseria mucosa (LDA score = 4.43; FDR = 1.31x10-02; LDA score = 2.94; FDR = 7.45x10-03) are enriched in the S group. A prevalence of superpathway of fatty acid biosynthesis initiation (E. coli) and catechol degradation II (meta-cleavage pathway) was found in saliva from A compared to S children.
Conclusion Our results showed that active children had an enrichment of species and genera mainly associated with a healthier profile. By contrast, the genera and the species enriched in the sedentary group could be linked to human diseases.