First insight into oral microbiome diversity in Papua New Guineans reveals a specific regional signature

Overview & Synopsis

Betel nut, also known as areca nut or ‘buai’, has been highly consumed in Papua New Guinea (PNG), and more widely in South and Southeast Asia for thousands of years (Fig.1). This nut is intensively traded within PNG and is chewed all across the country. However, it is a matter of public health because it can spread various pathogens, through spitting, and is known to have toxic and psychoactive effects (Singh et al, 2020) . Betel chewing is also a direct cause, especially oral cancer, by its impact on a major component of human health: the oral microbiome (Hernandez et al 2017) . The oral microbiome is composed of at least 700 species of bacteria, acting as regulators of human health (Freire et al, 2021) . Our recent work revealed that human oral microbiome in PNG has a diversity specific to this population (Pedro et al. 2022). While the impact of betel nut on the oral microbiome is documented in Southeast Asia (Hernandez et al., 2017; Saleem et al., 2020; Uehara et al., 2021; Zhong et al., 2021) , no study has been conducted in Papua New Guinea. The aim of our study is to characterize qualitatively and quantitatively the impact of betel nut consumption on the oral microbiome of individuals from PNG.