Vaginal microbiomes show ethnic evolutionary dynamics and positive selection of Lactobacillus adhesins driven by a long-term niche-specific process. Cell Rep 2024 Apr 23;43(4):114078
Date
04/10/2024Pubmed ID
38598334DOI
10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114078Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85189802215 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 8 CitationsAbstract
The vaginal microbiome's composition varies among ethnicities. However, the evolutionary landscape of the vaginal microbiome in the multi-ethnic context remains understudied. We perform a systematic evolutionary analysis of 351 vaginal microbiome samples from 35 multi-ethnic pregnant women, in addition to two validation cohorts, totaling 462 samples from 90 women. Microbiome alpha diversity and community state dynamics show strong ethnic signatures. Lactobacillaceae have a higher ratio of non-synonymous to synonymous polymorphism and lower nucleotide diversity than non-Lactobacillaceae in all ethnicities, with a large repertoire of positively selected genes, including the mucin-binding and cell wall anchor genes. These evolutionary dynamics are driven by the long-term evolutionary process unique to the human vaginal niche. Finally, we propose an evolutionary model reflecting the environmental niches of microbes. Our study reveals the extensive ethnic signatures in vaginal microbial ecology and evolution, highlighting the importance of studying the host-microbiome ecosystem from an evolutionary perspective.
Author List
Wei X, Tsai MS, Liang L, Jiang L, Hung CJ, Jelliffe-Pawlowski L, Rand L, Snyder M, Jiang CAuthor
Liang Liang PhD Assistant Professor in the Obstetrics and Gynecology department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Adhesins, BacterialAdult
Biological Evolution
Evolution, Molecular
Female
Humans
Lactobacillus
Microbiota
Pregnancy
Selection, Genetic
Vagina
