A Generalist Lifestyle Allows Rare Gardnerella spp. to Persist at Low Levels in the Vaginal Microbiome.

ABSTRACT: Gardnerella spp. are considered a hallmark of bacterial vaginosis, a dysbiosis of the vaginal microbiome. There are four cpn60 sequence-based subgroups within the genus (A, B, C and D), and thirteen genome species have been defined recently. Gardnerella spp. co-occur in the vaginal microbiome with varying abundance, and these patterns are shaped by a resource-dependent, exploitative competition, which affects the growth rate of subgroups A, B and C negatively. The growth rate of rarely abundant subgroup D, however, increases with the increasing number of competitors, negatively affecting the growth rate of others. We hypothesized that a nutritional generalist lifestyle and minimal niche overlap with the other more abundant Gardnerella spp. facilitate the maintenance of subgroup D in the va

SUBMITTER: Khan S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7678777 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature