Events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, that rapidly impact global communication and travel have significant consequences for the tourism industry, which is one of the pillars of global development. We assess the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on the Colca y Volcanes de Andagua UNESCO Global Geopark in Peru. The Colca y Volcanes de Andagua Geopark was established immediately prior to the pandemic in October 2019. The instability of the government in Peru during the pandemic and the difficult living conditions in the high Andes, such as the lack of drinking water, cleaning agents, medical care, and the high levels of poverty, particularly in the geopark region, has contributed to the significantly high COVID-19 infection rates. In addition, detrimental impacts faced by the local community are a direct result of a reduction in travellers to the area due to legislative restrictions, which have had negative consequences on the local tourism industry. There is an urgent need for the recovery of the local tourism industry to prevent the permanent closure of tourism facilities and to minimise poverty rates.

Molar incisor hypomineralization (MIH) is a qualitative developmental defect that affects the enamel tissue of permanent molars and can also occur in permanent incisors. Enamel affected by MIH has reduced hardness, increased porosity, and a higher organic content than unaffected enamel. These characteristics predispose the enamel to accumulation of bacteria and a higher prevalence of caries lesions. Through a groundbreaking metagenomic analysis of the buccal mucosal sample from a patient with MIH, we explored the intricacies of its microbiome compared to a healthy control using state-of-the-art nanopore long-read sequencing. Out of the 210 bacterial taxa identified in the MIH microbiome, we found Streptococcus and Haemophilus to be the most abundant genera. The bacteria with the highest read counts in the patient with MIH included Streptococcus mitis, Haemophilus parainfluenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Rothia dentocariosa, and Gemella haemolysans. Our results revealed a striking contrast between healthy and MIH affected children, with a higher dominance and number of pathogenic species (S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae, and N. meningitidis) and reduced diversity in the MIH-affected patient. This distinct microbial profile not only sheds light on MIH-affected patients, but paves the way for future research, inspiring deeper understanding and larger scale studies.

Molar incisor hypomineralization (MIH) is a dental condition that affects the enamel of permanent molars and/or incisors, often leading to tooth decay. Although several etiological hypotheses have come forward, including prenatal medical problems and postnatal illness, the pathogenesis of MIH is yet unclear. Aimed at exploring the epigenomic landscape of this dental condition, we collected dental tissue from a MIH-affected child and an age-matched control patient and investigated their DNA methylation status through an in-depth analysis of nanopore long-read sequencing data. We identified 780,141 CpGs with significantly different methylation levels between the samples; intriguingly, the density of these dinucleotides was higher in the regions containing genes involved in dental morphogenesis and inflammatory processes leading to periodontitis. Further examination of 54 genes associated with MIH or hypomineralized second primary molar disorders revealed very distinct methylation of intragenic transposable elements (SINEs, LINEs, and LTRs), while functional profiling analysis of 571 differentially methylated regions genome-wide uncovered significant enrichment processes including ameloblasts differentiation and calcium ion binding, as well as SP1 and other zinc finger transcription factors. Taken together, our findings suggest that DNA methylation could play a role in the pathogenesis of MIH and represent a stepping stone towards a comprehensive understanding of this multifactorial disorder.