Oral microbiome homogeneity across diverse human groups from southern Africa: first results from southwestern Angola and ZimbabweOriginal paper
Karen Pendergrass is a microbiome researcher specializing in microbiome-targeted interventions (MBTIs). She systematically analyzes scientific literature to identify microbial patterns, develop hypotheses, and validate interventions. As the founder of the Microbiome Signatures Database, she bridges microbiome research with clinical practice. In 2012, based on her own investigative research, she became the first documented case of FMT for Celiac Disease, four years before the first published case study.
Read MoreWhat was studied?
This study examined the oral (saliva) microbiome composition of diverse human populations from southwestern Angola and Zimbabwe. It used the non-human sequencing reads recovered from an expanded exome capture approach, repurposing genomic data to characterize salivary bacterial communities. The aim was to add southern African, non-industrialized populations to the global picture of oral microbiome composition and diversity, which remains poorly understood on a broad scale.
Who was studied?
The sample comprised 52 individuals drawn from eight ethnolinguistically diverse southern African populations. These included the Kuvale, Kwepe, Himba, Tjimba, Kwisi, Twa, and !Xun from Angola, and the Tshwa from Zimbabwe. The groups represented a range of subsistence strategies, including foragers, food-producers, and peripatetic communities that provide services to dominant neighboring groups.
What were the most important findings?
Neisseria, Streptococcus, Prevotella, Rothia, and Porphyromonas were the five most frequent genera across all southern African groups, consistent with patterns reported in other human populations worldwide. Neither host genetics nor livelihood strategy appeared to shape the overall oral microbiome profile, pointing to a broadly homogeneous core community. However, some individuals from the Tshwa and Twa forager groups showed an enrichment of pathogenic genera belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family, a family that includes Salmonella and other clinically relevant organisms.
What are the greatest implications of this study?
The findings suggest that the human oral microbiome maintains a stable, homogeneous core composition across ethnolinguistically and subsistence-diverse populations, independent of genetic ancestry or lifestyle. This supports the idea that core oral genera are a conserved feature of human biology rather than a product of industrialization or diet alone. The localized enrichment of pathogenic Enterobacteriaceae in specific forager subgroups also highlights that certain communities may carry distinct risks worth further investigation in relation to oral and systemic health.