Microbes on the Human Vaginal Epithelium

Overview

Journal Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Specialty Science

Date 2005 May 25

PMID 15911771

Citations 145

Authors

Richard W Hyman

Marilyn Fukushima

Lisa Diamond

Jochen Kumm

Linda C Giudice

Ronald W Davis

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Using solely a gene-based procedure, PCR amplification of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene coupled with very deep sequencing of the amplified products, the microbes on 20 human vaginal epithelia of healthy women have been identified and quantitated. The Lactobacillus content on these 20 healthy vaginal epithelia was highly variable, ranging from 0% to 100%. For four subjects, Lactobacillus was (virtually) the only bacterium detected. However, that Lactobacillus was far from clonal and was a mixture of species and strains. Eight subjects presented complex mixtures of Lactobacillus and other microbes. The remaining eight subjects had no Lactobacillus. Instead, Bifidobacterium, Gardnerella, Prevotella, Pseudomonas, or Streptococcus predominated.

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