Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41353361›Full record

ArticleNature communications2025

VIRGO2: an enhanced gene catalog of the vaginal microbiome provides insights into its functional and ecology complexity.

Michael T France, Issac Chaudry, Lindsay Rutt, Melanie Quain, Breanna Shirtliff, Elias McComb, Amaury Maros, Madeline Alizadeh, Fatima A Hussain, Michal A Elovitz and 8 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

18 authors.

Michael T FranceCenter for Advanced Microbiome Research and Innovation, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Issac ChaudryCenter for Advanced Microbiome Research and Innovation, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-3497-3105
Lindsay RuttCenter for Advanced Microbiome Research and Innovation, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Melanie QuainCenter for Advanced Microbiome Research and Innovation, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Breanna ShirtliffCenter for Advanced Microbiome Research and Innovation, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Elias McCombCenter for Advanced Microbiome Research and Innovation, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6324-2718
Amaury MarosCenter for Advanced Microbiome Research and Innovation, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID 0009-0006-4884-1476
Madeline AlizadehCenter for Advanced Microbiome Research and Innovation, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Fatima A HussainDepartment of Biology, School of Arts and Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.
Michal A ElovitzWomen's Biomedical Research Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA.
David A RelmanDepartment of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-8331-1354
Anisur RahmanMaternal and Child Health Division, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Rebecca M BrotmanCenter for Advanced Microbiome Research and Innovation, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-8762-6214
Joan T PriceDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Margaret P KassaroDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA.
Johanna B HolmCenter for Advanced Microbiome Research and Innovation, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-7646-4085
Bing MaCenter for Advanced Microbiome Research and Innovation, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-3488-2393
Jacques RavelCenter for Advanced Microbiome Research and Innovation, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. jravel@som.umaryland.edu.ORCID 0000-0002-0851-2233

Funding

Serologic Biomarkers of Human Sexually Transmitted Infection and DiseaseU19AI084044 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE · PI KO, DENNIS CHUN-YONE · 2009 to 2018
$22.8M
The role of host-microbial interactions in altering preterm birth risk among black womenR01NR014784 · NINR · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · PI ELOVITZ, MICHAL AVIVA · 2013 to 2024
$6.4M
Longitudinal Study of the Vaginal Microbiome Prior To Incident STIR01AI116799 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE · PI BROTMAN, REBECCA M. · 2015 to 2019
$3.5M
Elucidating causes of vaginal symptoms using a multi-omics approach - Admin. SupplementR01NR015495 · NINR · UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE · PI FORNEY, LARRY J, RAVEL, JACQUES · 2016 to 2020
$2.6M
The Microbial Ecology of Bacterial Vaginosis: A Fine Scale Resolution MetagenomicUH2AI083264 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE · PI RAVEL, JACQUES · 2009 to 2011
$1.9M
Systems-Level Research in Microbial PathogenesisT32AI162579 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE · PI NICHOLAS H CARBONETTI, Julie Dunning Hotopp · 2022 to 2026
$1.7M
Integrating multi-omics data: Modeling biomarkers and mechanisms to reduce bacterial vaginosis recurrenceK01AI163413 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE · PI HOLM, JOHANNA B. · 2021 to 2025
$464k
NIAID NIH HHS K01 AI163413NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI116799NIAID NIH HHS T32 AI162579NIAID NIH HHS U19 AI084044NIAID NIH HHS UH2 AI083264NINR NIH HHS R01 NR014784NINR NIH HHS R01 NR015495
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Despite the importance of the cervicovaginal microbiome, the mechanisms that govern its composition and drive its impact on host physiology remain poorly understood. With the aim to expand our understanding of the function and ecology of the vaginal microbiome, we present VIRGO2, an enhanced non-redundant gene catalog comprising over 1.7 million well-annotated genes from body-site specific microbes and viruses. Analyses using VIRGO2 reveal insights such as including the identification of previously uncharacterized vaginal bacteria, features of the vaginal mycobiome and phageome, and differential expression of bacterial carbohydrate catabolic genes. Constructed from over 2500 metagenomes and 4000 bacterial genomes, VIRGO2 broadens geographic representation and microbial diversity compared to its predecessor. This updated catalog enables more precise profiling of taxonomic and functional composition from metagenomic and metatranscriptomic datasets. VIRGO2 is a critical resource for integrative analyses of vaginal microbial communities and their interactions with host tissues, thereby enhancing our mechanistic understanding of vaginal health and disease.

Indexed as

BacteriaMicrobiotaVaginaFemaleGenome, BacterialHumansMetagenomeMetagenomicsMycobiome

Identifiers

PMID41353361
PMCPMC12800114

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.