In Silico Analysis of Gardnerella Genomospecies Detected in the Setting of Bacterial Vaginosis

Gardnerella vaginalis is implicated as one of the causative agents of bacterial vaginosis, but it can also be isolated from the vagina of healthy women. Previous efforts to study G. vaginalis identified 4 to 6 clades, but average nucleotide identity analysis indicates that G. vaginalis may be multiple species. Recently, Gardnerella was determined to be 13 genomospecies, with Gardnerella piottii , Gardnerella leopoldii , and Gardnerella swidsinkii delineated as separate species.