Genus: Schaalia
Lineage: Bacteria;Actinobacteria;Actinomycetia;Actinomycetales;Actinomycetaceae;Schaalia
Overview: Bacteria of the genus Schaalia are abundant in the healthy mouth,
particularly on the tongue dorsum, tonsils, and throat where they make up 3 to 6% of
the oral microbial community. They were formerly considered to be in genus Actinomyces
and were reclassified into genus Schaalia in 2018 (Nouioui et al. 2018).
Ecological role/importance in health and disease: There are 9 species of Schaalia in the mouth, including 5 named species (S. cardiffensis, S. georgiae, S. lingnae [Not Validly Published], S. meyeri, and S. odontolytica, as well as 4 taxa that are currently unnamed (Schaalia spp. HMT 172, 178, 180, and 877). Most of the Schaalia spp. detected in the healthy mouth in Human Microbiome Project data are members of the unnamed taxa S. sp. HMT 172 and S. sp. HMT 180 (Eren et al. 2014). S. odontolytica (formerly A. odontolyticus) is a member of the "purple complex" in subgingival plaque together with Veillonella parvula (Socransky et al. 1998).
Ecological role/importance in health and disease: There are 9 species of Schaalia in the mouth, including 5 named species (S. cardiffensis, S. georgiae, S. lingnae [Not Validly Published], S. meyeri, and S. odontolytica, as well as 4 taxa that are currently unnamed (Schaalia spp. HMT 172, 178, 180, and 877). Most of the Schaalia spp. detected in the healthy mouth in Human Microbiome Project data are members of the unnamed taxa S. sp. HMT 172 and S. sp. HMT 180 (Eren et al. 2014). S. odontolytica (formerly A. odontolyticus) is a member of the "purple complex" in subgingival plaque together with Veillonella parvula (Socransky et al. 1998).
A bacterial consortium scraped from the top surface of a human tongue. The colors represent different kinds of bacteria: Schaalia in red, Rothia mucilaginosa in blue, Veillonella in magenta, Streptococcus in green, Neisseriaceae in yellow. Image credit: Steven Wilbert. |
eHOMD Taxonomy | |
---|---|
Life | Cellular Organisms |
Domain | Bacteria (773) Abundance |
Phylum | Actinobacteria (119) Abundance |
Class | Actinomycetia (104) Abundance |
Order | Actinomycetales (34) Abundance |
Family | Actinomycetaceae (34) Abundance |
Genus | Schaalia (9) Abundance |
Species | Schaalia cardiffensis (HMT-850) Abundance Schaalia georgiae (HMT-617) Abundance Schaalia lingnae (HMT-181) Abundance Schaalia meyeri (HMT-671) Abundance Schaalia odontolytica (HMT-701) Abundance Schaalia sp._HMT_172 (HMT-172) Abundance Schaalia sp._HMT_178 (HMT-178) Abundance Schaalia sp._HMT_180 (HMT-180) Abundance Schaalia sp._HMT_877 (HMT-877) Abundance |