Prevotella species as oral residents and infectious agents with potential impact on systemic conditions

Abstract

Oral Prevotella are known as anaerobic commensals on oral mucosae and in dental plaques from early life onwards, including pigmented P. melaninogenica, P. nigrescens, and P. pallens and non-pigmented Prevotella species. Many Prevotella species contribute to oral inflammatory processes, being frequent findings in dysbiotic biofilms of periodontal diseases ( P. intermedia, P. nigrescens ), cariotic lesions ( P. denticola, Alloprevotella (formerly Prevotella ) tannerae ), endodontic infections ( P. baroniae, P. oris, P. multisaccharivorax ), and other clinically relevant oral conditions. Over the years, several novel species have been recovered from the oral cavity without knowledge of their clinical relevance. Within this wide genus, virulence properties and other characteristics like biofilm formation seemingly vary in a species- and strain-dependent manner, as shown for the P. intermedia group organisms ( P. aurantiaca, P. intermedia, P. nigrescens , and P. pallens ). Oral Prevotella species are identified in various non-oral infections and chronic pathological conditions. Here, we have updated the knowledge of the genus Prevotella and the role of Prevotella species as residents and infectious agents of the oral cavity, as well as their detection in non-oral infections, but also gathered information on their potential link to cancers of the head and neck, and other systemic disorders.

Characterization of the Lower Airways and Oral Microbiota in Healthy Young Persons in the Community

“…Overall, the most abundant ASV in our samples belonged to the Veillonela genus ( V. dispar ), and this species has been reported to colonize the tongue of healthy individuals [ 36 ]. Concerning the Prevotella species, P. melaninogenica , P. nigrescens , and P. pallens are ubiquitous species found in the oral cavity from birth [ 37 ]. P. jejuni , despite its association with celiac disease, is also considered an oral resident species [ 37 ].…”

“…Concerning the Prevotella species, P. melaninogenica , P. nigrescens , and P. pallens are ubiquitous species found in the oral cavity from birth [ 37 ]. P. jejuni , despite its association with celiac disease, is also considered an oral resident species [ 37 ]. All these Prevotella species were not only detected in our study but were also the most abundant ones related to the Prevotella genus.…”

Oral microbiome changes associated with the menstrual cycle in healthy young adult females

“…For example, ovariectomy in mice showed that oral bacterial amounts increased as a result of estradiol deficiency (Lucisano et al, 2021), although this report did not focus on Prevotella species. In addition, Prevotella species have been found to change their characteristics according to estradiol levels (Könönen et al, 2022), of which Prevotella intermedia, Prevotella nigrescens, and Prevotella pallens increased biofilm formation in the presence of estradiol (Fteita et al, 2015;Fteita et al, 2017). The decrease observed in the Prevotella 7 genus in saliva might be due to the fact that estradiol-induced biofilm prevents Prevotella from flowing into the saliva.…”

Characterization of Oral Bacterial and Fungal Microbiome in Recovered COVID-19 Patients

“…Butyric acid plays an important antiin ammatory role [23] , and the increase in butyrate-producing bacteria may be involved in the antiin ammatory response during recovery from COVID-19. Moreover, previous studies have reported that Prevotella could drive in ammation, dampen innate immune responses [24] , and contribute to oral in ammatory processes [25] . In recent studies, Abdul et al found that the over-expressed Prevotella proteins could promote viral infection, suggesting that Prevotella plays an important role in in the progression of COVID-19 [26,27] .…”