Women in Microbiology

We present a specially commissioned set of articles to mark UN International Women’s Day that highlight gender inequalities that impact women in academia, clinical research and healthcare, and celebrate the achievements of female microbiologists.

Francine Ntoumi is a Congolese parasitologist, founder, chair and executive director of the Congolese Foundation for Medical Research, Republic of Congo, and research group leader at the University of Tübingen, Germany. She established the first research centre on infectious diseases in the Republic of Congo.

Elizabeth Anne Bukusi is a research professor in obstetrics and gynaecology and global health at the University of Washington and a senior principal clinical research scientist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). Her research focuses on sexually transmitted infections, reproductive health and HIV prevention, care and treatment.

Margaret McFall-Ngai is the inaugural director of a new division in biosphere sciences at the Carnegie Institution for Science. She has explored the impact of evolving in a microbial world on the biology of animals and plants through a set of adventures that began with a lecture by Carl Woese early in her graduate career.

Esperanza Martínez-Romero is a professor of ecological genomics and was coordinator of the undergraduate programme on genomics at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Her work on plant symbioses, and outreach with local farmers has encouraged uptake of sustainable practices and the use of biofertilizers.

Many women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) need to make decisions about marital name change, and have to consider how this might affect their publication record and future career. Mentorship that considers race, ethnicity, culture, religion and parenting, as well as a centralized system to dynamically and retroactively streamline name change, will promote agency and choice for women navigating STEM careers, writes Bala Chaudhary.

The sciences will never be a truly equitable workplace as long as patriarchy, racism and oppressive social norms persist, writes Kelly Ramirez.

Despite evidence of sex-specific pathogenesis, few studies of infectious diseases report or analyse sex or gender, unless it is the primary focus. Using HIV as an example, it is argued here that this leaves potentially informative data unexplored and that integrating sex and gender in analyses may accelerate research in microbial pathogenesis.

Here the implications of gender inequity in the face of infectious disease outbreaks such as Ebola and SARS-CoV-2 in Africa are discussed, with a proposal as to how we can address the unequal burden of outbreaks on women.

Understanding the interplay between the microbiome and menopause holds promise for new interventions to alleviate menopausal symptoms and improve quality of life for women.

This Review summarizes current knowledge on the vaginal microbiota and discusses how research can progress from association to mechanism to provide deeper insights into its role in health and disease.

l-cysteine is required for the growth of Lactobacillus iners, a vaginal microbiome species typically associated with adverse outcomes that lacks cysteine biosynthesis pathways and key uptake mechanisms present in other lactobacilli. Cystine uptake inhibitors can be used to suppress L. iners abundance in vitro in favour of L. crispatus, a species associated with favourable outcomes.

Quantitative metagenomic analyses of gut microbiomes reveals kinship, together with current cohabitation, as drivers of microbial community transmission and persistence between family members over three to five generations.

Dual RNA sequencing and a time course infection model of vaginal epithelial cells with four Candida pathogens reveal a homogenous protective mitochondria-associated type I interferon host response at early time points, followed by distinct species-specific pathogenicity patterns.

Fetal meconium does not have a detectable microbiota, as shown using 16S rRNA sequencing and culture of rectal swabs collected during elective breech caesarean sections without labour and before antibiotics, indicating that colonization occurs during and after birth.

That the Zika virus epidemic could result in infections of 1.65 million childbearing women and 93.4 million people suggests an approach that combines epidemiological theory with data on seroprevalence and drivers of transmission to make location-specific projections.

The cryo-electron microscropy structures of the full-length ectodomain of VAR2CSA in both ligand-binding and ligand-free states reveal the sequestration mechanism of placental malaria.

Bifidobacterium species associated with breastfeeding can convert aromatic amino acids into their respective aromatic lactic acids via a previously uncharacterized aromatic lactate dehydrogenase, which may impact immune function in infants.

Whole genome sequencing coupled with assessment of maternal recto–vaginal Streptococcus agalactiae (Group B Streptococcus) colonization, stillbirth and neonatal disease reveals the disease burden and bacterial population structure in coastal Kenya.

Previous Escherichia coli infection epigenetically alters host epithelial cell maturation and COX-2 mediated inflammation to predispose mice for future recurrent infection.

Both African and epidemic strains of Zika virus are shown to target CD14⁺ monocytes, which are more susceptible in pregnant women, but African strains are associated with inflammatory responses, and epidemic strains with immunotolerance.

Academic titles are often used without much thought; however, a recent discussion on social media has highlighted how the use of a title can have important implications for individuals, in particular women, and how they can be perceived as elitist by the general public.

Here, using RNA sequencing and data from several cohorts, the authors find an association of the presence of inherited, chromosomally integrated human herpesvirus 6 in the placenta with a clinical diagnosis of pre-eclampsia in the mother.

Inoculation of pregnant dams with an antibiotic-perturbed microbiota resulted in vertical transmission to the offspring in the absence of antibiotics and increased colitis in IL10^–/– mice, indicating that antibiotic treatment has long-term effects.

Looking back at how Zika virus emergence was handled during and after the 2015–2016 outbreak will be important for assessing how well multiple relevant stakeholders were integrated to mount a response, and can provide the groundwork to better cope with emerging infections in the future.

Strain-level analysis of gut and oral microbiomes from individuals living in the Fiji Islands identified shared genomes particularly within households, indicating potential microbial transmission within social networks.