Definition of the Human Vaginal Microbiome
The full collection of microbial genomes (bacterial, viral, fungal, etc.) in the human vagina.
Introduction
The resident microbial flora of the healthy vagina provides protection from infection by a number of different mechanisms. Until recently, our knowledge of the composition of the vaginal microbial flora came from qualitative/semiquantitative descriptive studies using culture-dependent techniques. Following the development and introduction of culture-independent molecular-based techniques, new information with respect to the composition of normal vaginal flora in health and disease has expanded our knowledge (Lamont et al. 2011). Most studies, whether culture dependent or independent, give the impression that the composition of vaginal flora is static and do not reflect the fact that such communities undergo shifts in their relative representation, abundance, and virulence between individuals and over time (Costello et al. 2009), all of...
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Lamont, R.F. (2013). The Vaginal Microbiome in Health and Disease. In: Nelson, K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Metagenomics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6418-1_525-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6418-1_525-1
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