Fungal Diversity and Interactions in the Nasal and Oral Cavities of Individuals with Allergic Rhinitis, Asthma and Healthy Controls

Allergic rhinitis and asthma are common chronic airway diseases that present significant public health challenges. Previous research has shown how the nasal and oral mycobiomes influence the onset, progression and severity of these two conditions, but no study so far has directly compared those myco...

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Main Author: Marcos Pérez-Losada
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-05-01
Series:Microorganisms
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/13/6/1204
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author Marcos Pérez-Losada
author_facet Marcos Pérez-Losada
author_sort Marcos Pérez-Losada
collection DOAJ
description Allergic rhinitis and asthma are common chronic airway diseases that present significant public health challenges. Previous research has shown how the nasal and oral mycobiomes influence the onset, progression and severity of these two conditions, but no study so far has directly compared those mycobiomes within the same cohort during health and disease. To address this gap, I analyzed next-generation fungal <i>ITS</i> sequence data from 349 participants, including individuals with allergic rhinitis, asthma, and healthy controls. The nasal and oral mycobiomes showed a great overlap in composition but differed significantly (<i>p</i> < 0.04) in the relative abundance of several dominant genera. Moreover, only 18.6% of the fungal amplicon variants were shared among cavities. Microbial alpha-diversity was significantly higher (<i>p</i> < 0.05) in the nasal cavity, while beta-diversity varied significantly (<i>p</i> < 0.045) across all indices and clinical groups. Fungal networks were largely fragmented and showed relatively low ecological niche specialization, which contrasts with a previous study of bacteriomes from the same cohort. These networks also differed in structure, complexity and keystone nodes across clinical phenotypes. Overall, these findings highlight that the nasal and oral mycobiomes play distinct yet interconnected roles in allergic rhinitis and asthma.
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spelling doaj-art-eef84f9b054a4e22af7b5f4e4afb518a2025-08-20T03:27:32ZengMDPI AGMicroorganisms2076-26072025-05-01136120410.3390/microorganisms13061204Fungal Diversity and Interactions in the Nasal and Oral Cavities of Individuals with Allergic Rhinitis, Asthma and Healthy ControlsMarcos Pérez-Losada0Computational Biology Institute, Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052-0066, USAAllergic rhinitis and asthma are common chronic airway diseases that present significant public health challenges. Previous research has shown how the nasal and oral mycobiomes influence the onset, progression and severity of these two conditions, but no study so far has directly compared those mycobiomes within the same cohort during health and disease. To address this gap, I analyzed next-generation fungal <i>ITS</i> sequence data from 349 participants, including individuals with allergic rhinitis, asthma, and healthy controls. The nasal and oral mycobiomes showed a great overlap in composition but differed significantly (<i>p</i> < 0.04) in the relative abundance of several dominant genera. Moreover, only 18.6% of the fungal amplicon variants were shared among cavities. Microbial alpha-diversity was significantly higher (<i>p</i> < 0.05) in the nasal cavity, while beta-diversity varied significantly (<i>p</i> < 0.045) across all indices and clinical groups. Fungal networks were largely fragmented and showed relatively low ecological niche specialization, which contrasts with a previous study of bacteriomes from the same cohort. These networks also differed in structure, complexity and keystone nodes across clinical phenotypes. Overall, these findings highlight that the nasal and oral mycobiomes play distinct yet interconnected roles in allergic rhinitis and asthma.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/13/6/1204allergic rhinitisasthma<i>ITS</i>keystone taxamycobiomenetworks
spellingShingle Marcos Pérez-Losada
Fungal Diversity and Interactions in the Nasal and Oral Cavities of Individuals with Allergic Rhinitis, Asthma and Healthy Controls
Microorganisms
allergic rhinitis
asthma
<i>ITS</i>
keystone taxa
mycobiome
networks
title Fungal Diversity and Interactions in the Nasal and Oral Cavities of Individuals with Allergic Rhinitis, Asthma and Healthy Controls
title_full Fungal Diversity and Interactions in the Nasal and Oral Cavities of Individuals with Allergic Rhinitis, Asthma and Healthy Controls
title_fullStr Fungal Diversity and Interactions in the Nasal and Oral Cavities of Individuals with Allergic Rhinitis, Asthma and Healthy Controls
title_full_unstemmed Fungal Diversity and Interactions in the Nasal and Oral Cavities of Individuals with Allergic Rhinitis, Asthma and Healthy Controls
title_short Fungal Diversity and Interactions in the Nasal and Oral Cavities of Individuals with Allergic Rhinitis, Asthma and Healthy Controls
title_sort fungal diversity and interactions in the nasal and oral cavities of individuals with allergic rhinitis asthma and healthy controls
topic allergic rhinitis
asthma
<i>ITS</i>
keystone taxa
mycobiome
networks
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/13/6/1204
work_keys_str_mv AT marcosperezlosada fungaldiversityandinteractionsinthenasalandoralcavitiesofindividualswithallergicrhinitisasthmaandhealthycontrols