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Signatures of vaginal microbiota by 16S rRNA gene: potential bio-geographical application in Chinese Han from three regions of China

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Abstract

The human microbiome is expected to be a new and promising tool for classification of human epithelial materials. Vaginal fluids are one of the most common biological samples in forensic sexual assault cases, and its identification is crucial to accurately determine the nature of the case. With the development of molecular biology technologies, the concept of vaginal microflora in different physiological states, ethnic groups, and geography is constantly improved. In this study, we conducted high-throughput sequencing of the V3–V4 hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene in vaginal samples from Henan, Guangdong, and Xinjiang populations, in an attempt to reveal more information about the vaginal microflora in different regions. The results showed that the bio-geographical factors might affect the relative abundance of some vaginal microflora, but there was no significant difference in the composition of dominant bacteria in the vagina, which was mainly composed of Lactobacillus and Gardnerella. However, prediction models based on the random forest algorithm suggested that we might be able to distinguish vaginal fluids from populations of different regions according to the species-level OTUs in low abundance. It is promising that microbiome-based methods could provide more personal information when being attempted to trace the origin of body fluids.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all volunteers who contributed samples for this study. And the authors would like to thank Peiwen Zhong for her guidance in bioinformatics.

Funding

This study was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (Grant no. 2020A1515010938), the Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou, China (Grant no. 2019030016), and the Opening Fund of Shanghai Key Laboratory of Forensic Medicine (Institute of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice, China) (Grant No: KF1914).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Ting Yao, Zhi Wang and Xiaomin Liang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Multi-Omics Innovative Research Center of Forensic Identification, Department of Forensic Genetics, School of Forensic Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 510515, People’s Republic of China

    Yao Ting, Zhi Wang, Xiaomin Liang, Zhonghao Yu, Ruolan Liu, Yinglin Liu, Chao Liu & Ling Chen

  2. Guangzhou Forensic Science Institute, Guangzhou, 510030, People’s Republic of China

    Changhui Liu & Xiaolong Han

Authors
  1. Yao Ting
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  2. Zhi Wang
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  3. Xiaomin Liang
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  4. Changhui Liu
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  5. Zhonghao Yu
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  6. Xiaolong Han
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  7. Ruolan Liu
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  8. Yinglin Liu
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  9. Chao Liu
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  10. Ling Chen
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Chao Liu or Ling Chen.

Ethics declarations

The project was approved by the biomedical ethical committee of the Southern Medical University (No. 2019-0011).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Highlights

1. In this study, the microbial composition of vaginal fluids had specific characteristics, which was mainly composed of Lactobacillus and Gardnerella.

2. Bioinformatics analysis suggested that the vaginal fluids from populations of different regions could be distinguish by the species-level OTUs in low abundance.

3. The microbiome-based analysis of vaginal fluids might be potential to infer the bio-geographical information.

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Yao, T., Wang, Z., Liang, X. et al. Signatures of vaginal microbiota by 16S rRNA gene: potential bio-geographical application in Chinese Han from three regions of China. Int J Legal Med 135, 1213–1224 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-021-02525-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-021-02525-y

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