Ecological succession in the vaginal microbiota during pregnancy and birth

Study information

Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Claregrieve1 on 2022/08/30

study design

prospective cohort

Citation

PMID PubMed identifier for scientific articles.

32488167

DOI Digital object identifier for electronic documents.

10.1038/s41396-020-0686-3

URI

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32488167/

Authors

Rasmussen MA, Thorsen J, Dominguez-Bello MG, Blaser MJ, Mortensen MS, Brejnrod AD, Shah SA, Hjelmsø MH, Lehtimäki J, Trivedi U, Bisgaard H, Sørensen SJ, Stokholm J

Journal

The ISME journal

Year

2020

The mother's vaginal microbiota represents the first microbes to which a child is exposed when delivered vaginally. However, little is known about the composition and development of the vaginal microbiota during pregnancy and birth. Here, we analyzed the vaginal microbiota of 57 women in pregnancy week 24, 36 and at birth after rupture of membranes but before delivery, and further compared the composition with that of the gut and airways of the 1-week-old child. The vaginal community structure had dramatic changes in bacterial diversity and taxonomic distribution, yet carried an individual-specific signature. The relative abundance of most bacterial taxa increased stepwise from week 24 of pregnancy until birth, with a gradual decline of Lactobacillus. Mother-to-child vertical transfer, as suggested by sharing, was modest, with the strongest transfer being for Clostridiales followed by Lactobacillales and Enterobacteriales. In conclusion, late gestation is associated with an increase in maternal vaginal microbiota diversity, and vaginal bacteria at birth only modestly predict the composition of the neonatal microbiota.

Experiment 1

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Claregrieve1 on 2022/08/30

Curated date: 2021/10/28

Curator: Joyessa

Revision editor(s): WikiWorks, Claregrieve1, Joyessa, Peace Sandy

Subjects

Location of subjects: United States of America

Host species Species from which microbiome was sampled. Contact us to have more species added.: Homo sapiens

Body site Anatomical site where microbial samples were extracted from according to the Uber Anatomy Ontology: Vagina Vagina,vagina,Distal oviductal region,Distal portion of oviduct,Vaginae

Condition The experimental condition / phenotype studied according to the Experimental Factor Ontology: Gestational age Gestational age,gestational age

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies: Week 24

Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies: Week 36

Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group: gestational age of 36 weeks

Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group: 56

Group 1 sample size Number of subjects in the case (exposed) group: 57

Lab analysis

Sequencing type: 16S

16S variable region One or more hypervariable region(s) of the bacterial 16S gene: V4

Sequencing platform Manufacturer and experimental platform used for quantifying microbial abundance: Illumina

Statistical Analysis

Data transformation Data transformation applied to microbial abundance measurements prior to differential abundance testing (if any).: relative abundances

Statistical test: Kruskall-Wallis

Significance threshold p-value or FDR threshold used for differential abundance testing (if any): 0.05

MHT correction Have statistical tests be corrected for multiple hypothesis testing (MHT)?: Yes

Alpha Diversity

Shannon Estimator of species richness and species evenness: more weight on species richness: increased

Signature 1

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Claregrieve1 on 2022/08/30

Curated date: 2021/10/28

Curator: Joyessa

Revision editor(s): Fatima, Joyessa, Claregrieve1

Source: Figure 3

Description: Differentially abundant vaginal taxa at genus level between Week 24 vs. Week 36.

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in Week 36

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Moraxella
Streptococcus
Staphylococcus
Enterococcus
Corynebacterium
Gemella

Revision editor(s): Fatima, Joyessa, Claregrieve1

Signature 2

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Claregrieve1 on 2022/08/30

Curated date: 2021/10/28

Curator: Joyessa

Revision editor(s): Fatima, Joyessa, Claregrieve1

Source: Figure 3

Description: Differentially abundant vaginal taxa at genus level between Week 24 vs. Week 36.

Abundance in Group 1: increased abundance in Week 36

NCBI	Quality Control	Links
Lactobacillus

Revision editor(s): Fatima, Joyessa, Claregrieve1

Experiment 2

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Reviewed Marked as Reviewed by Claregrieve1 on 2022/08/30

Curated date: 2021/11/14

Curator: Joyessa

Revision editor(s): WikiWorks, LGeistlinger, Claregrieve1, Joyessa

Differences from previous experiment shown

Subjects

Group 0 name Corresponds to the control (unexposed) group for case-control studies: 36

Group 1 name Corresponds to the case (exposed) group for case-control studies: Birth

Group 1 definition Diagnostic criteria applied to define the specific condition / phenotype represented in the case (exposed) group: birth timepoint

Group 0 sample size Number of subjects in the control (unexposed) group: 57

Lab analysis

Statistical Analysis

Data transformation Data transformation applied to microbial abundance measurements prior to differential abundance testing (if any).: Not specified