title: Microbes on the human vaginal epithelium.
abstract: Using solely a gene-based procedure, PCR amplification of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene coupled with very deep sequencing of the amplified products, the microbes on 20 human vaginal epithelia of healthy women have been identified and quantitated. The Lactobacillus content on these 20 healthy vaginal epithelia was highly variable, ranging from 0% to 100%. For four subjects, Lactobacillus was (virtually) the only bacterium detected. However, that Lactobacillus was far from clonal and was a mixture of species and strains. Eight subjects presented complex mixtures of Lactobacillus and other microbes. The remaining eight subjects had no Lactobacillus. Instead, Bifidobacterium, Gardnerella, Prevotella, Pseudomonas, or Streptococcus predominated.
authors.affiliation: Stanford Genome Technology Center and Departments of Biochemistry, Genetics, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, Stanford University, 855 California Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA. rhyman@stanford.edu
authors.forename: Richard W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Hyman
authors.forename: Marilyn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fukushima
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Diamond
authors.forename: Jochen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kumm
authors.forename: Linda C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Giudice
authors.forename: Ronald W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Davis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D019295:Computational Biology; D017931:DNA Primers; D030561:Databases, Nucleic Acid; D004848:Epithelium / Q000382:microbiology; D004926:Escherichia coli; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013045:Species Specificity; D014621:Vagina / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S