VaginalLactobacillusfatty acid response mechanisms reveal a novel strategy for bacterial vaginosis treatment

Abstract

Bacterial vaginosis (BV), a common syndrome characterized by Lactobacillus -deficient vaginal microbiota, is associated with adverse health outcomes. BV often recurs after standard antibiotic therapy in part because antibiotics promote microbiota dominance by Lactobacillus iners instead of Lactobacillus crispatus , which has more beneficial health associations. Strategies to promote L. crispatus and inhibit L. iners are thus needed. We show that oleic acid (OA) and similar long-chain fatty acids simultaneously inhibit L. iners and enhance L. crispatus growth. These phenotypes require OA-inducible genes conserved in L. crispatus and related species, including an oleate hydratase ( ohyA ) and putative fatty acid efflux pump ( farE ). FarE mediates OA resistance, while OhyA is robustly active in the human vaginal microbiota and sequesters OA in a derivative form that only ohyA -harboring organisms can exploit. Finally, OA promotes L. crispatus dominance more effectively than antibiotics in an in vitro model of BV, suggesting a novel approach for treatment.