The researchers named the new species Prevotella histicola; histicola means 'inhabitant of tissue'.
"Interestingly, this species was isolated from within the oral tissues, both in oral cancers and normal, healthy tissue. This confirms other work showing that oral bacteria can invade both tissues and individual cells," said Wade.
Understanding the composition of the oral microbiota will help scientists devise new prevention measures and treatments for oral diseases.
"A detailed description and name for each species of bacteria are needed so that different laboratories can recognize all of the bacterial species present in the mouth," said Wade.
The study is published in the August issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology.
Source-ANI
TAN/M