The Potential of Metatranscriptomics for Identifying Screening Targets for Bacterial Vaginosis

Abstract

Background:The ribosomal RNA content of a sample collected from a woman with bacterial vaginosis (BV) was analysed to determine the active microbial community, and to identify potential targets for further screening.Methodology/Principal Findings:The sample from the BV patient underwent total RNA extraction, followed by physical subtraction of human rRNA and whole transcriptome amplification. The metatranscriptome was sequenced using Roche 454 titanium chemistry. The bioinformatics pipeline MG-RAST and desktop DNA analysis platforms were utilised to analyse results. Bacteria of the genus Prevotella (predominately P. amnii) constituted 36% of the 16S rRNA reads, followed by Megasphaera (19%),..