Microbial composition and diversity in intraradicular biofilm formed in situ: New concepts based on next-generation sequencing.

This study aimed to characterize the taxonomic composition of intraradicular multispecies biofilms (IMB) formed in situ in a model to reproduce clinical conditions. Twelve palatal roots of maxillary molars had its canals prepared. Two roots were randomly selected to sterility control. Ten intraoral prosthetic appliances with lateral slots were fabricated. The roots were positioned in the slots with the canal access open to the oral cavity. Eight volunteers wore the appliance for 21 days, and two wore it at two different time points. One root from each appliance was removed and stored at -20°C until DNA extraction and sequencing (n = 10). Biofilm was analyzed using next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics. The V4 hyper-variable region of the 16SrRNA gene was amplified and sequenced. For data analyses, the mothur pipeline was used for 16SrRNA processing, and subsequent analyses of the sequence dataset were performed in R using the Microbiome Analyst R package. The taxonomy-based analysis of bacterial communities identified 562 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), which belonged to 93 genera, 44 families, and 8 phyla. Bacterial colonization was different for each biofilm, and samples did not have the same group of bacteria. Alpha and beta diversity analysis revealed some general patterns of sample clustering. A core microbiome of prevalent OTUs and genera was identified. IMBs were heterogeneous when analyzed individually, but some diversity patterns were found after sample clustering. The experimental model seemed to reproduce the actual biofilm composition in endodontic infections, which suggests that it may be used to evaluate disinfection protocols.