Department of Biology, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2011;6(5):e19709. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0019709. Epub 2011 May 13.
Urine is the CDC-recommended specimen for STI testing. It was unknown if the bacterial communities (microbiomes) in urine reflected those in the distal male urethra. We compared microbiomes of 32 paired urine and urethral swab specimens obtained from adult men attending an STD clinic, by 16S rRNA PCR and deep pyrosequencing. Microbiomes of urine and swabs were remarkably similar, regardless of STI status of the subjects. Thus, urine can be used to characterize urethral microbiomes when swabs are undesirable, such as in population-based studies of the urethral microbiome or where multiple sampling of participants is required.
尿液是疾病预防控制中心推荐的性传播感染检测标本。目前尚不清楚尿液中的细菌群落（微生物组）是否反映了男性尿道远端的情况。我们通过 16S rRNA PCR 和深度焦磷酸测序，比较了 32 例成年男性在性传播疾病门诊就诊时采集的尿液和尿道拭子配对标本的微生物组。无论研究对象的性传播感染状况如何，尿液和拭子的微生物组都非常相似。因此，当拭子不可用时，例如在基于人群的尿道微生物组研究或需要对参与者进行多次采样时，尿液可用于描述尿道微生物组。
