In-Silico Functional Metabolic Pathways Associated to Chlamydia trachomatis Genital Infection

The advent of high-throughput technologies, such as 16s rDNA sequencing, has significantly contributed to expanding our knowledge of the microbiota composition of the genital tract during infections such as Chlamydia trachomatis. The growing body of metagenomic data can be further exploited to provide a functional characterization of microbial communities via several powerful computational approaches. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the predicted metabolic pathways of the cervicovaginal microbiota associated with C. trachomatis genital infection in relation to the different Community State Types (CSTs), via PICRUSt2 analysis. Our results showed a more rich and diverse mix of predicted metabolic pathways in women with a CST-IV microbiota as compared to all the other CSTs, independently from infection status. C. trachomatis genital infection further modified the metabolic profiles in women with a CST-IV microbiota and was characterized by increased prevalence of the pathways for the biosynthesis of precursor metabolites and energy, biogenic amino-acids, nucleotides, and tetrahydrofolate. Overall, predicted metabolic pathways might represent the starting point for more precisely designed future metabolomic studies, aiming to investigate the actual metabolic pathways characterizing C. trachomatis genital infection in the cervicovaginal microenvironment.

Automated summary

High-throughput technologies, such as 16s rDNA sequencing, have enhanced our understanding of the microbiota composition in the genital tract during infections like Chlamydia trachomatis. In this study, the predicted metabolic pathways of the cervicovaginal microbiota associated with C. trachomatis genital infection were investigated using PICRUSt2 analysis. The results showed diverse metabolic pathways in women with a CST-IV microbiota, regardless of infection status. C. trachomatis infection altered the metabolic profiles, leading to an increased prevalence of certain pathways. This study provides insights for future metabolomic studies on the metabolic pathways characterizing C. trachomatis genital infection in the cervicovaginal microenvironment.