Read Time:

Over recent years there has been an explosive amount of research exploring the human microbiome.



The microbiome refers to the community of microbes, including fungi, bacteria, viruses, bacteriophage and protozoa, that live together in a habitat. This habitat may be the gut, the skin, or the genitalia, for example.





The increase in research in this area has led to an acknowledgement that the microbiome contributes to both healthy and diseased states in humans. However, the mechanisms behind this contribution are not definitively understood and are being explored by scientists.



It's important for scientists to know which microbes live on a healthy body, and which microbes may be pathogenic. The heterogenous nature of microbes from one area of the body to another makes it difficult to constitute what a "normal" microbiome is. Genomics is offering a helping hand here, as genetic sequencing offers a snapshot into which bacterial communities are present in certain samples.





The vaginal microbiome



Now, researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s (UMSOM) Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS) have created

(human vaginal non-redundant gene catalog): the first genomic catalog of the vaginal microbiome.





VIRGO has been released as a public resource that can be utilized by scientists exploring the role of microbes in gynecological health conditions. Its development is described in a publication led by VIRGO has been released as a public resource that can be utilized by scientists exploring the role of microbes in gynecological health conditions. Its development is described in a publication led by Bing Ma , PhD, Research Associate in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at IGS, available in

.







Exploring vagina-related pathologies



“This finding is a paradigm changing discovery, as it moves the field away from the idea that a single strain of Lactobacillus is responsible for an optimal microbiome,” said

, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Associate Director and Senior Scientist at the IGS.





“Important efforts are underway by UMSOM faculty to translate our growing understanding of human-associated microbial communities into clinical biomarkers and treatments,” said UMSOM Dean

, who is also Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, University of Maryland and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor. “This groundbreaking research provides powerful, publicly available tools to researchers who are addressing key health issues for women.”





Ma et al. (2020). A comprehensive non-redundant gene catalog reveals extensive within-community intraspecies diversity in the human vagina. Nature Communications. DOI:

.