Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42709542›Full record

ArticleCell reports2026

Species and strain sharing in the vaginal microbiome of mothers and their adult daughters.

Maria Pinedo-Bardales, Isabel Erreygers, Camille Nina Allonsius, Margo Hiel, Tom Eilers, Tim Van Rillaer, Thies Gehrmann, Sarah Ahannach, Jelle Dillen, Ilke De Boeck and 5 more

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PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Cell reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing 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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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

15 authors.

Maria Pinedo-BardalesLaboratory of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Isabel ErreygersLaboratory of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Camille Nina AllonsiusLaboratory of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Margo HielLaboratory of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Tom EilersLaboratory of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Tim Van RillaerLaboratory of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Thies GehrmannLaboratory of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Sarah AhannachLaboratory of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; U-MaMi Centre of Excellence, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Jelle DillenLaboratory of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Ilke De BoeckLaboratory of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Veronique VerhoevenU-MaMi Centre of Excellence, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; Department of Family Medicine and Population Health, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Sandra Van PuyveldeLaboratory of Medical Microbiology, Vaccine & Infectious Disease Institute, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Nicola SegataDepartment of Cellular, Computational and Integrative Biology, University of Trento, Trento, Italy; Department of Twins Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK.
Stijn WittouckLaboratory of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium.
Sarah LebeerLaboratory of Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium; U-MaMi Centre of Excellence, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium. Electronic address: sarah.lebeer@uantwerpen.be.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The vaginal microbiome is key for women's health. However, its establishment, interindividual variation and dynamics remain poorly understood. Here, we investigate bacterial relatedness at species and strain level in adult mother-daughter pairs from the large-scale citizen-science program Isala. Using metagenomic sequencing with quality control including 16S rRNA profile comparison, along with targeted culturing, we assess intergenerational microbiome sharing. At species level, daughters' vaginal microbiomes are significantly more similar to their mothers' than to those of unrelated mothers, with a strong mother-daughter correlation in Lactobacillus crispatus dominance. Strain-level analyses of metagenomes and isolate genomes reveal intraspecies diversity in L. crispatus, with up to two strains observed within the same host, and support intergenerational vaginal bacteria sharing. SNV counts in shared L. crispatus strains show no correlation with daughters' ages. Together, these findings suggest that maternal transmission, host factors, and (shared) environment collectively shape the vaginal microbiome, providing fundamental ecological insights into vaginal microbiome dynamics and perspectives toward lactobacilli-based applications.

Indexed as

Lactobacillus crispatusMicrobiotaMothersVaginaAdultFemaleHumansMetagenomeNuclear FamilyRNA, Ribosomal, 16SSpecies SpecificityRNA, Ribosomal, 16SCP: microbiologylactic acid bacteriametagenomic sequencingmother-daughter pairsstrain sharingtargeted culturingvaginal microbiome

Identifiers

PMID42709542
PMCPMC13597658

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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.