Fifteen pre-menopausal Caucasian women (aged 18–45 years old), who have no symptoms of vaginal or urinary tract infection, were recruited for the present study. The women were non-menstruating and not receiving oral or local antimicrobial therapy within the previous 2 weeks. All volunteers provided a written informed consent in accordance with the Ethics Committee of the University of Bologna (52/2014/U/Tess) and the institutional review board approved the study. Mid-vaginal secretions were self-collected by women with E-swabs (Copan, Brescia, Italy) and immediately processed for lactobacilli isolation. The specimens were coded to assure full anonymousness.
Lactobacillus clones were isolated onto de Man, Rogosa and Sharpe (MRS) and Brain-Heart Infusion (BHI) agar plates (Difco, Detroit, MI). Both MRS and BHI agar plates were supplemented with 0.05% L-cysteine. Plates were incubated anaerobically for 24 h at 37°C in anaerobic jars supplemented with Anaerocult C (Merck, Milan, Italy). Colonies with different morphologies yielding variable rods by microscope observation were selected for glycerol stock preparation. To prepare lactobacilli fractions, 18-h MRS/BHI cultures (OD600 = 0.5) were centrifuged at 5,000 X g for 10 min at 4°C. Supernatants were filtered through a 0.2 μm membrane filter to obtain cell free supernatants (CFS). Cell pellets (CP) were washed in sterile saline.
Genomic DNA was extracted from lactobacilli CP using DNeasy Blood & Tissue Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) following the protocol “Pretreatment for Gram-positive bacteria”. The extracted DNA was amplified with Lactobacillus genus-specific primers Lac1 and Lac2 [32 (link)]. The positive isolates were taxonomically characterized to the species level by sequencing the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene. Briefly, the complete 16S rRNA gene (1.5 kb) was amplified with the universal primers 27F and 1492R [33 ] and sequenced. The obtained sequences were compared with the sequences available in the Ribosomal Database Project (RDP,http://rdp.cme.msu.edu/ ) [34 (link)] in order to identify the Lactobacillus species.
Lactobacillus clones were isolated onto de Man, Rogosa and Sharpe (MRS) and Brain-Heart Infusion (BHI) agar plates (Difco, Detroit, MI). Both MRS and BHI agar plates were supplemented with 0.05% L-cysteine. Plates were incubated anaerobically for 24 h at 37°C in anaerobic jars supplemented with Anaerocult C (Merck, Milan, Italy). Colonies with different morphologies yielding variable rods by microscope observation were selected for glycerol stock preparation. To prepare lactobacilli fractions, 18-h MRS/BHI cultures (OD600 = 0.5) were centrifuged at 5,000 X g for 10 min at 4°C. Supernatants were filtered through a 0.2 μm membrane filter to obtain cell free supernatants (CFS). Cell pellets (CP) were washed in sterile saline.
Genomic DNA was extracted from lactobacilli CP using DNeasy Blood & Tissue Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) following the protocol “Pretreatment for Gram-positive bacteria”. The extracted DNA was amplified with Lactobacillus genus-specific primers Lac1 and Lac2 [32 (link)]. The positive isolates were taxonomically characterized to the species level by sequencing the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene. Briefly, the complete 16S rRNA gene (1.5 kb) was amplified with the universal primers 27F and 1492R [33 ] and sequenced. The obtained sequences were compared with the sequences available in the Ribosomal Database Project (RDP,
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