Metagenomic investigation of 16S rRNA marker gene samples to analyze the role of race, ethnicity, and location in preterm birth: A comprehensive vaginal microbiome meta-analysis

Abstract

The vaginal microbiome is essential to women's reproductive health and numerous studies have demonstrated that any microbial dysbiosis can increase the risk of Preterm Birth (PTB). The present study utilized an integrated computational methodology to conduct a meta-analysis of PTB vaginal microbiome samples from women of different racial, ethnic, and geographical locations, across multiple studies derived from public repositories. Taxonomic classification, functional profiling, and statistical analysis of the PTB samples revealed that Finegoldia, Haemophilus, and Lactobacillus showed the highest variation in their microbial abundances while the Sensory system pathway, Substance dependence pathway, and Circulatory system pathway showed the highest variation in their expression levels based on race, ethnicity, and locations respectively. All of these factors cause subsequent variations in the etiology of PTB across the aforementioned demographic attributes. LEfSE and ANCOM-BC approaches were performed to identify race, ethnicity, and geographic location-specific microbial biomarkers. To the best of our knowledge, our work is one of the first to provide a detailed analysis of the complex delineations between socioeconomic constructs of race and ethnicity at a global scale, considering the eight racial groups and the geographical location of the participants who faced PTB. We believe these findings will have significant implications for the development of more targeted and efficacious strategies for the prevention and treatment of PTB.