An AFI scientist’s stunning image detailing the complexity of the oral microbiome was chosen by the Journal of Dental Research as its 2024 Cover of the Year.
The image, featured in JDR’s December 2024 cover of its Special Issue on Advanced Imaging, shows a group of bacteria that form a community on the surface of the tongue. The sample shown in the image was taken from the tongue of a healthy individual.
ADA Forsyth Institute Staff Scientist Tabita Ramirez-Puebla, Ph.D., produced the image alongside AFI Senior Member of Staff Jessica Mark Welch, Ph.D., and Senior Research Investigator Gary Borisy, Ph.D. The researchers produced the image for their paper, “Improved Visualization of Oral Microbial Consortia,” originally published in June 2024.
“It is so interesting to observe the microbial communities that form in the mouth,” Dr. Ramirez-Puebla said. “In general, we don’t think about the bacteria in our mouths very often. We tend to associate them with disease, but actually, there are many ‘good guys’ in the oral cavity that have an important role in our health.”
The microbes pictured form a microbial consortium, a spatially organized community of microbes that live symbiotically.
While the location of these tiny organisms may seem random, the reality is that they organize into a structured community to perform tasks that a single organism would be unable to accomplish on its own.
“Different communities grow on the teeth, the tongue, or on the inside of the cheek,” Dr. Ramirez-Puebla said. “From this kind of research, we can learn how the bacteria organize at the microscopic level, and that is important, because it tells us about the activity within the community and how it’s functioning.”
Dr. Ramirez-Puebla generated the image using a confocal microscope (Zeiss LSM 980), housed at ADA Forsyth’s headquarters in Somerville, Massachusetts, and a technique called Combinatorial Labeling and Spectral Imaging – Fluorescence in situ Hybridization (CLASI -FISH). CLASI-FISH imaging is an innovative approach to visualizing microbial communities developed by Dr. Borisy and Dr. Mark Welch.
Dr. Ramirez-Puebla uses probes made by attaching fluorescent tags to short pieces of DNA that match specific types of bacteria, making each type appear as a distinct color in the microscope.
