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Most of the research that helps you understand your own vaginal microbiome relies on a hidden piece of plumbing: a reference library of microbial genomes that scientists compare your samples against. In 2024, that library got a major upgrade.
A study in Nature Microbiology assembled the Vaginal Microbial Genome Collection (VMGC), a set of 33,804 microbial genomes drawn from the human vaginal microbiome.1
It sounds like a dry, technical resource, and in a sense it is. But it quietly improves the quality of almost everything that comes after it, from research papers to the bacterial vaginosis (BV) tests you can order at home.
What is a reference genome collection, in plain English?
When you do a microbiome test, the lab reads fragments of microbial DNA from your sample. To work out which microbes those fragments came from, software matches them against a catalogue of known genomes.1
If a microbe is not in the catalogue, it cannot be properly identified. It either gets mislabelled or filed under a vague heading. So the richer and more complete the reference collection, the more accurately a test can tell you what is actually living down there.1
What is in the VMGC?
The collection brings together 33,804 genomes spanning three kingdoms of life, which is why the researchers call it multi-kingdom.1
- 786 prokaryotic species (bacteria and archaea)
- 11 fungal species, the group that includes vaginal yeast
- 4,263 viral groups, including the bacteria-infecting viruses known as phages
To build it, the team combined large-scale DNA sequencing of vaginal samples with old-fashioned laboratory cultivation of fungi, so that hard-to-grow organisms were not left out.1
Why this catalogue matters for you
It fills in the bacteria we could not grow
A striking finding is how much of the vaginal microbiome had been flying under the radar. More than a quarter of the bacterial and archaeal species, and around 85 per cent of the viral groups, had never been grown in a lab before.1
That includes some of the most relevant organisms in BV. The collection notably improves coverage of difficult, uncultured BV-associated bacteria, including the organism long known as BVAB1 and its relatives in the Amygdalobacter group (which includes BVAB2).1
It makes future testing sharper
Better reference data means that the next generation of vaginal microbiome tests can name more of what they find, instead of returning a long list of unknowns. For anyone trying to understand a stubborn or recurring problem, that precision is genuinely useful.1
What this means in practice
You will not buy the VMGC or feel it directly. It works behind the scenes. But it is part of the reason the science of the vaginal microbiome keeps getting more precise, and why testing can increasingly identify the specific bacteria involved in conditions like BV rather than lumping everything together.1
This matches how we work at My Vagina. The more precisely you can identify what is actually growing, the better you can tailor treatment, whether that means targeted antimicrobial and biofilm support or restoring the right protective bacteria, rather than guessing.
Frequently asked questions
What does multi-kingdom mean here?
It means the collection covers more than just bacteria. It includes bacteria and archaea, fungi (such as vaginal yeast), and viruses, giving a fuller view of the whole microbial community rather than one slice of it.1
What are BVAB1 and Amygdalobacter?
These are disruptive bacteria strongly associated with BV that have been notoriously hard to grow and study in a lab. The new collection improves the genetic reference data for them, which helps researchers and tests identify them more reliably.1
Does this change my treatment today?
Not directly. It is a research resource, not a treatment. Its benefit reaches you indirectly, through more accurate testing and better-informed research over time.1
What to do next
If you are trying to get to the bottom of a recurring vaginal problem, accurate identification is the foundation everything else is built on.
- Read our guide to bacterial vaginosis and the bacteria involved.
- Explore vaginal microbiome testing to find out what is actually growing.
- Match your results to targeted treatment rather than guessing.
References
- Huang L, Guo R, Li S, et al. A multi-kingdom collection of 33,804 reference genomes for the human vaginal microbiome. Nature Microbiology. 2024;9:2185–2200. Full text
