Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters (한국미생물·생명공학회지)

The Korean Society for Microbiology and Biotechnology (한국미생물·생명공학회)
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Identification of Distinct Vaginal Microbiota Signatures Contributing Toward Preterm Birth Using an Integrative Computational Approach

  • Sudeepti Kulshreshtha (Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University) ;
  • Priyanka Narad (Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University) ;
  • Brojen Singh (School of Computational and Integrative Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University) ;
  • Deepak Modi (Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health and Child Health) ;
  • Abhishek Sengupta (Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University)
  • Received : 2022.10.18
  • Accepted : 2023.01.18
  • Published : 2023.03.28
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Abstract

Preterm birth (PTB) is defined as giving birth prior to the 37th week of pregnancy and is a major cause of infant mortality. Studies have indicated that the vaginal microbiota's composition and its dysbiosis, particularly during pregnancy, may play a major role in PTB. While previous research work concentrated on well-studied microorganisms such as Lactobacillus, Prevotella, Gardnerella, various other microbes, and their significance in the vaginal microbiota's stability remain unknown. Moreover, current studies have focused primarily on the relative abundances of the microbes found, without considering their interactions with other members of the vaginal microbiota. In this work, we developed a novel computational approach and performed taxonomic classification of vaginal microbiota samples stratified longitudinally (Term/PTB) to observe compositional disparities and find underexamined microbes that may be contributing to PTB. Furthermore, we carried out a correlational analysis to build a microbial co-interaction network and investigated the functional implications of the genes present in both Term and PTB samples. The co-occurrence network revealed that Lactobacillus acts in solidarity to maintain the stability of the vaginal microbiota and did not have strong co-interactions with any of the other microbes. Similarly, microbes with strong interactions with Atopobium, a well-known marker microbe of PTB, were also observed. Additionally, several genes such as PTXA, FANCM, GPX, and DUSP were found to be playing an important role in the occurrence of PTB. This study provides a novel conceptual framework revealing distinct vaginal microbiota signatures that could be potential therapeutic targets for the prevention of PTB.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

We would like to acknowledge Dr. Ashok K. Chauhan, Founder, and President, Amity University, Uttar Pradesh for providing us the opportunity to conduct research. We would also like to thank Centre for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Amity Institute of Biotechnology, Amity University for providing us with necessary resources.

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