<i>Lactobacillus iners</i> dominates the vaginal microbiota of healthy Italian women of reproductive age.

ABSTRACT: Large sex hormonal fluctuations are thought to influence vaginal microbiota, but little is known about the impact of small, physiological variations. Here, we tracked changes in vaginal microbiota during four key menstrual cycle phases in 61 healthy, naturally menstruating Italian women from the Women4Health cohort. The microbiota, characterized using a high-depth 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing approach covering four hypervariable regions, was primarily composed of Lactobacillus species, with Lactobacillus iners being the most abundant (average relative abundance: 40%) and the most prevalent (prevalence: 98%). Individual microbiota were generally stable, but beta diversity was higher during the follicular phase (P = 0.007). Only 11 women exhibited compositional shifts, m

SUBMITTER: Vinerbi E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12710342 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature