Exploring the genotypic and phenotypic differences distinguishing Lactobacillus jensenii and Lactobacillus mulieris

Lactobacillus crispatus, Lactobacillus gasseri, Lactobacillus iners, and Lactobacillus jensenii are dominant species of the urogenital microbiota. Prior studies suggest that these Lactobacillus species play a significant role in the urobiome of healthy females. In our prior genomic analysis of all publicly available L. jensenii and Lactobacillus mulieris genomes at the time (n = 43), we identified genes unique to these two closely related species. This motivated our further exploration here into their genotypic differences as well as into their phenotypic differences. First, we expanded genome sequence representatives of both species to 61 strains, including publicly available strains and nine new strains sequenced here. Genomic analyses conducted include phylogenetics of the core genome as well as biosynthetic gene cluster analysis and metabolic pathway analyses. Urinary strains of both species were assayed for their ability to utilize four simple carbohydrates. We found that L. jensenii strains can efficiently catabolize maltose, trehalose, and glucose, but not ribose, and L. mulieris strains can utilize maltose and glucose, but not trehalose and ribose. Metabolic pathway analysis clearly shows the lack of treB within L. mulieris strains, indicative of its inability to catabolize external sources of trehalose. While genotypic and phenotypic observations provide insight into the differences between these two species, we did not find any association with urinary symptom status. Through this genomic and phenotypic investigation, we identify markers that can be leveraged to clearly distinguish these two species in investigations of the female urogenital microbiota. IMPORTANCE We have expanded upon our prior genomic analysis of L. jensenii and L. mulieris strains, including nine new genome sequences. Our bioinformatic analysis finds that L. jensenii and L. mulieris cannot be distinguished by short-read 16S rRNA gene sequencing alone. Thus, to discriminate between these two species, future studies of the female urogenital microbiome should employ metagenomic sequencing and/or sequence species-specific genes, such as those identified here. Our bioinformatic examination also confirmed our prior observations of differences between the two species related to genes associated with carbohydrate utilization, which we tested here. We found that the transport and utilization of trehalose are key distinguishing traits of L. jensenii, which is further supported by our metabolic pathway analysis. In contrast with other urinary Lactobacillus species, we did not find strong evidence for either species, nor particular genotypes, to be associated with lower urinary tract symptoms (or the lack thereof).