Composition and diversity of the subgingival microbiome and its relationship with age in postmenopausal women: an epidemiologic investigation

Background The extent to which the composition and diversity of the oral microbiome varies with age is not clearly understood. Methods The 16S rRNA gene of subgingival plaque in 1219 women, aged 53–81 years, was sequenced and its taxonomy annotated against the Human Oral Microbiome Database (v.14.5). Composition of the subgingival microbiome was described in terms of centered log(2)-ratio (CLR) transformed OTU values, relative abundance, and...