The metagenomics and culturomics as complementary approaches to better characterized the vaginal bacterial community associated with the bacterial vaginosis
The metagenomics and culturomics as complementary approaches to better characterized the vaginal bacterial community associated with the bacterial vaginosis Khoudia Diop1, Ndeye Safietou Fall1, Cheikh Sokhna1, Didier Raoult1, and Florence Fenollar1* 1Aix Marseille Univ, IRD, AP-HM, IHU-Méditerranée Infection, Marseille, France *Corresponding author: Prof. Florence Fenollar: florence.fenollar@univ-amu.fr
Over the last decades, increasing studies of the vaginal microbiota using advanced molecular and new OMICS techniques have revealed the impact of the vaginal microbiome on reproductive health. Indeed, the disruption of the vaginal bacterial community makes it prone to bacterial vaginosis and/or severe gynecological conditions, including preterm birth, pelvic inflammatory disease and also sexually transmitted diseases. Knowledge about normal and abnormal vaginal microbiota has become a little clearer in recent years. Culture techniques have made it possible to isolate and describe many bacterial species. Whereas molecular methods have highlighted the limits of culture by showing that the vagina is a complex ecosystem containing a wide range of non-cultured or difficult-to-identify bacteria. In this study, we analyzed vaginal samples of bacterial vaginosis patients and healthy women using the metagenomics and the “Culturomics” approaches to map the vaginal flora and better understand vaginosis condition with the aim to provide better treatment. Globally, we found a higher bacterial diversity in patients compared to control with the increase of species such as Gardnerella vaginalis, Atopobium vaginae as well as oxygen-sensitive prokaryotes including Gram-positive anaerobic cocci, and Prevotella spp. Notably, we found also an increased number of previously unknown species that we isolated for the first time. Combining the metagenomics and culturomics approaches has indeed allowed the identification of a complex of 10 bacterial species associated with bacterial vaginosis. However, there is an urgent need for more laboratory experimentations to better understand the factors underlaying their pathogenicity and virulence, to improve the current and future therapies against the bacterial vaginosis and prevent relapse and treatment failures.
Funding: This study was funded by the “Fondation Méditerranée Infection” and the French Government under the “Investissements d'avenir” program managed by the National Agency for Research (reference Méditerranée Infection 10-IAHU-03).
Credits
Credits: None available.
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