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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.

Sec. Clinical Microbiology

Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1582553

Metagenomic analysis reveals the diversity of the vaginal virome and its association with vaginitis

Provisionally accepted
Xiang Lu Xiang Lu 1Qiang Lu Qiang Lu 2Rong Zhu Rong Zhu 2Mingzhong Sun Mingzhong Sun 2Hongmei Chen Hongmei Chen 2Zhihu Ge Zhihu Ge 2Yuchen Jiang Yuchen Jiang 2Zhipeng Wang Zhipeng Wang 2Lingzhi Zhang Lingzhi Zhang 2Wen Zhang Wen Zhang 1Ziyuan Dai Ziyuan Dai 2*
  • 1 Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 2 Yancheng Third People's Hospital, Yancheng, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The human vaginal virome is a critical component of the vaginal microbiome, yet its diversity and potential role in health and disease remain poorly understood. In this study, we performed metagenomic sequencing on 24 vaginal swab libraries from 267 women, including both healthy individuals and those diagnosed with vaginitis. Our analysis revealed that DNA viruses predominated in the vaginal virome, with Anelloviridae and Papillomaviridae being the most prevalent eukaryotic viruses, while Siphoviridae and Microviridae were the dominant bacteriophages. Compared to the healthy control group, the vaginitis group exhibited significantly lower alpha diversity (Shannon, Richness, and Pielou indices) and greater beta diversity dispersion, indicating distinct viral community compositions. Anelloviruses, detected in both groups, showed extensive lineage diversity, frequent recombination events, and substantial phylogenetic divergence, suggesting a complex evolutionary history and potential immunological interactions. HPV diversity and richness were significantly higher in the vaginitis group, with a more unbalanced viral lineage distribution. Furthermore, our findings highlighted novel phage-bacterial associations, suggesting a potential role of bacteriophages in modulating the vaginal microbiome.These results provide valuable insights into the composition of the vaginal virome, its relationship with vaginal dysbiosis, and potential implications for reproductive health. Future studies should incorporate individual-level sequencing and metatranscriptomic approaches to explore intra-host viral variability, assess viral activity, and further elucidate the functional roles of the vaginal virome in host-microbiome interactions.

    Keywords: Metagenomics, Anellovirus, papillomavirus, Vaginitis, Bacteriophage

    Received: 24 Feb 2025; Accepted: 17 Mar 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Lu, Lu, Zhu, Sun, Chen, Ge, Jiang, Wang, Zhang, Zhang and Dai. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ziyuan Dai, Yancheng Third People's Hospital, Yancheng, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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