Metabolomic approach to oral microbiota

Oral microbiota, known as dental plaque or oral biofilm, is a complex of microorganisms. Functions such as metabolic activity are crucial final outputs of microbiota, since they directly relate to the pathogenicity of oral diseases, such as dental caries and periodontitis. The metabolic characteristics of microbiota have been speculated from the results of in vitro studies of representative bacteria consisting of microbiota, because the amount of oral microbiota sampled from the oral cavity was too small for metabolic study. A new system of metabolome anal ysis (metabolomics), using the combination of capillary electrophoresis and a time of flight mass spectrometer, has been developed, enabling us to quantify hundreds of intracellular metabolic intermediates relevant to the central carbon metabolism in supragingival plaque. The metabolomic approach may offer new insights into understanding the metabolic activity of microbiota, as “a supra organism” consisting of a tremendous number of organisms that may be considered a single organism.