Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Metabolomics of Symbioses between Bacterial Vaginosis-Associated Bacteria
Victoria Horrocks, Charlotte K. Hind, Matthew E. Wand, Paul-Enguerrand Fady, Joel Chan, Jade C. Hopkins, Georgina L. Houston, Rachel M. Tribe, J. Mark Sutton, A. James Mason
Abstract
Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common vaginal infection for women of childbearing age. Although 50% of women with BV do not have any symptoms, it approximately doubles the risk of catching a sexually transmitted infection and also increases the risk of preterm delivery in pregnant women. Recent studies of the vaginal microbiota have suggested that variation between species in the same genus or between strains of the same species explain better or poorer outcomes or at least some coexistence patterns for bacteria of concern. We tested whether such variation is manifested in how vaginal bacteria grow in the laboratory and whether and how they may share nutrients. We then showed that this affected the overall cocktail of chemicals they produce, including bacterially derived chemicals that we have previously shown are linked to a higher risk of preterm delivery.