The vaginal microbiome during pregnancy and the postpartum period in a European population

MacIntyre, David A.; Chandiramani, Manju; Lee, Yun S.; Kindinger, Lindsay; Smith, Ann; Angelopoulos, Nicos; Lehne, Benjamin; Arulkumaran, Shankari; Brown, Richard; Teoh, Tiong Ghee; Holmes, Elaine; Nicoholson, Jeremy K.; Marchesi, Julian R.; Bennett, Phillip R.

Abstract

© 2015, Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved. The composition and structure of the pregnancy vaginal microbiome may influence susceptibility to adverse pregnancy outcomes. Studies on the pregnant vaginal microbiome have largely been limited to Northern American populations. Using MiSeq sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons, we characterised the vaginal microbiota of a mixed British cohort of women (n = 42) who experienced uncomplicated term delivery and who were sampled longitudinally throughout pregnancy (8-12, 20-22, 28-30 and 34-36 weeks gestation) and 6 weeks postpartum. We show that vaginal microbiome composition dramatically changes postpartum to become less Lactobacillus spp. dominant with increased alpha-diversity irrespective of the community structure during pregnancy and independent of ethnicity. While the pregnancy vaginal microbiome was characteristically dominated by Lactobacillus spp. and low alpha-diversity, unlike Northern American populations, a significant number of pregnant women this British population had a L. jensenii-dominated microbiome characterised by low alpha-diversity. L. jensenii was predominantly observed in women of Asian and Caucasian ethnicity whereas L. gasseri was absent in samples from Black women. This study reveals new insights into biogeographical and ethnic effects upon the pregnancy and postpartum vaginal microbiome and has important implications for future studies exploring relationships between the vaginal microbiome, host health and pregnancy outcomes.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 2, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Mar 11, 2015
• Publication Date: Mar 11, 2015
• Deposit Date: Oct 2, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 4, 2019
• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Electronic ISSN: 2045-2322
• Publisher: Nature Research (part of Springer Nature)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 1
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/srep08988
• Keywords: Multidisciplinary
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/3454441
• Additional Information: Received: 17 November 2014; Accepted: 11 February 2015; First Online: 11 March 2015; : The authors declare no competing financial interests.