Study of Ecological Relationship of Yeast Species with in the Context of Vulvovaginal Infections

The role of the fungal community, the mycobiota, in the health of the vagina is currently an important area of research. The emergence of new sequencing technologies and advances in bioinformatics made possible the discovery of novel fungi inhabiting this niche. spp. constitutes the most important group of opportunistic pathogenic fungi, being the most prevalent fungal species in vulvovaginal infections. However, fungi such as spp., spp. and spp. have emerged as potential pathogens in this niche, and therefore it is clinically relevant to understand their ecological interaction with spp. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of yeasts on ' pathogenicity, focusing on in-vitro growth, and biofilm formation at different times of co-culture and germ tube formation. The assays were performed with isolated species or with co-cultures of (ATCC10231) with one other yeast species: (DSM13621), (DSM6170) or (DSM70215). The results showed that creates a symbiotic relationship with , enhancing the growth rate of the co-culture (149.69%), and of germ tube formation of (119.8%) and inducing a higher amount of biofilm biomass of the co-culture, both when mixed (154.1%) and preformed (166.8%). As for the yeasts and , the relationship is antagonistic (with a significant decrease in all assays), thus possibly repressing the mixture's pathogenicity. These results shed light on the complex interactions between yeasts in the vaginal mycobiome.