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Wang Q, Dong A, Zhao J, Wang C, Griffin C, Gragnoli C, Xue F, Wu R. Vaginal microbiota networks as a mechanistic predictor of aerobic vaginitis. Front Microbiol 2022; 13:998813. [PMID: 36338093 PMCID: PMC9631484 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.998813] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2022] [Accepted: 09/09/2022] [Indexed: 09/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Aerobic vaginitis (AV) is a complex vaginal dysbiosis that is thought to be caused by the micro-ecological change of the vaginal microbiota. While most studies have focused on how changes in the abundance of individual microbes are associated with the emergence of AV, we still do not have a complete mechanistic atlas of the microbe-AV link. Network modeling is central to understanding the structure and function of any microbial community assembly. By encapsulating the abundance of microbes as nodes and ecological interactions among microbes as edges, microbial networks can reveal how each microbe functions and how one microbe cooperate or compete with other microbes to mediate the dynamics of microbial communities. However, existing approaches can only estimate either the strength of microbe-microbe link or the direction of this link, failing to capture full topological characteristics of a network, especially from high-dimensional microbial data. We combine allometry scaling law and evolutionary game theory to derive a functional graph theory that can characterize bidirectional, signed, and weighted interaction networks from any data domain. We apply our theory to characterize the causal interdependence between microbial interactions and AV. From functional networks arising from different functional modules, we find that, as the only favorable genus from Firmicutes among all identified genera, the role of Lactobacillus in maintaining vaginal microbial symbiosis is enabled by upregulation from other microbes, rather than through any intrinsic capacity. Among Lactobacillus species, the proportion of L. crispatus to L. iners is positively associated with more healthy acid vaginal ecosystems. In a less healthy alkaline ecosystem, L. crispatus establishes a contradictory relationship with other microbes, leading to population decrease relative to L. iners. We identify topological changes of vaginal microbiota networks when the menstrual cycle of women changes from the follicular to luteal phases. Our network tool provides a mechanistic approach to disentangle the internal workings of the microbiota assembly and predict its causal relationships with human diseases including AV.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qian Wang
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Female Reproductive Health and Eugenics, Tianjin, China
| | - Ang Dong
- Center for Computational Biology, College of Biological Sciences and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China
| | - Jinshuai Zhao
- Center for Computational Biology, College of Biological Sciences and Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China
| | - Chen Wang
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Female Reproductive Health and Eugenics, Tianjin, China
| | - Christipher Griffin
- Applied Research Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, United States
| | - Claudia Gragnoli
- Department of Public Health Sciences, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, United States
- Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, NE, United States
- Molecular Biology Laboratory, Bios Biotech Multi-Diagnostic Health Center, Rome, Italy
| | - Fengxia Xue
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Female Reproductive Health and Eugenics, Tianjin, China
| | - Rongling Wu
- Center for Statistical Genetics, Department of Public Health Sciences and Statistics, The Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, PA, United States
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