Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230022, Anhui Province, China.
NHC Key Laboratory of the Study of Abnormal Gametes and the Reproductive Tract, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230022, Anhui Province, China.
BMC Microbiol. 2024 Nov 1;24(1):444. doi: 10.1186/s12866-024-03612-x.
Cervical ripening is a multifactorial outcome, and the association between cervical ripening and vaginal microbiota remains unexplored in term primiparous women. A new sequencing technology, microbiome 2bRAD sequencing (2bRAD-M) that provides a higher level of species discrimination compared to amplicon sequencing. We applied 2bRAD-M to analyze the vaginal microbiota in a population with variations in cervical ripeness and to explore potential microbiota factors influencing cervical ripening.
A total of 30 full-term primigravid women participated in this study, with 15 belonging to the low scoring group of cervical ripeness and 15 to the high scoring group. Clinical information was collected from the participants, and the vaginal microbiota and community structure of both groups were analyzed using 2bRAD-M sequencing. Microbiota diversity and differential analyses were conducted to explore potential factors influencing cervical ripening.
A total of 605 species were detected. There was no difference in vaginal microbiota diversity between the two groups, and the vaginal microbial composition was structurally similar. In the two groups, Lactobacillus crispatus and Lactobacillus iners were identified as the two pivotal species through random forest analysis. Concurrent, extensive and close connections between species within the two groups were observed in the correlation analysis, influencing the aforementioned two species. Pairwise comparisons showed that Sphingomonas (P = 0.0017) and three others were abundant in high scoring group, while Alloprevotella (P = 0.0014), Tannerella (P = 0.0033), Bacteroides (P = 0.0132), Malassezia (P = 0.0296), Catonella (P = 0.0353) and Pseudomonas (P = 0.0353) and so on showed higher abundance in low scoring group. Linear discriminant analysis effect size identified 29 discriminative feature taxa.
For the first time, vaginal microbiota was sequenced using 2bRAD-M. With a relatively simple structure, a more stable vaginal microbiota is associated with higher cervical ripeness, and certain microorganisms, such as Sphingomonas, may play a beneficial role in cervical ripening.
宫颈成熟是一个多因素的结果，阴道微生物群与足月初产妇宫颈成熟的关系仍不清楚。一种新的测序技术，微生物组 2bRAD 测序（2bRAD-M），与扩增子测序相比，提供了更高水平的物种区分度。我们应用 2bRAD-M 分析了宫颈成熟度不同的人群中的阴道微生物群，并探索了影响宫颈成熟的潜在微生物因素。
共有 30 名足月初产妇参与了这项研究，其中 15 名属于宫颈成熟度低评分组，15 名属于宫颈成熟度高评分组。从参与者那里收集临床信息，并使用 2bRAD-M 测序分析两组的阴道微生物群和群落结构。进行微生物多样性和差异分析，以探讨影响宫颈成熟的潜在因素。
共检测到 605 个物种。两组间阴道微生物多样性无差异，微生物组成结构相似。在两组中，通过随机森林分析鉴定出乳酸杆菌 crispatus 和乳酸杆菌 iners 为两个关键物种。在相关性分析中，还观察到两组内物种之间广泛而密切的联系，影响了上述两个物种。成对比较显示，鞘氨醇单胞菌（P=0.0017）和其他三个物种在高评分组中丰富，而 Alloprevotella（P=0.0014）、 Tannerella（P=0.0033）、 Bacteroides（P=0.0132）、 Malassezia（P=0.0296）、 Catonella（P=0.0353）和 Pseudomonas（P=0.0353）等在低评分组中丰度较高。线性判别分析效应大小确定了 29 个有区别的特征分类群。
这是首次使用 2bRAD-M 对阴道微生物群进行测序。具有相对简单结构的更稳定的阴道微生物群与更高的宫颈成熟度相关，某些微生物，如鞘氨醇单胞菌，可能在宫颈成熟中发挥有益作用。
