Exploiting Metal Dependencies to Support a Low-Risk Vaginal Microbiome

Marguerite Hood-Pishchany of the University of North Carolina in the U.S. will characterize the metal nutrient dependencies of vaginal microbial communities to design interventions that support communities associated with a low risk of diseases linked to bacterial vaginosis. Using vaginal swabs from a longitudinal study of vaginal microbiota, they will measure the total elemental abundance of key metals, the concentration of relevant host metal-binding proteins, and the intracellular metal concentration of prevalent vaginal taxa. This will include comparison of samples across the menstrual cycle and across microbiota community types. They will also culture isolates of three key representatives of these bacterial community types, comparing their nutrient metal requirements and their susceptibility to metal sequestration and metal intoxication. This data will inform the design of interventions that alter metal availability, including identifying when in the menstrual cycle to intervene and guiding the best strategy for either metal supplementation or metal limitation.