VIRGO2: an enhanced gene catalog of the vaginal microbiome provides insights into its functional and ecology...

Despite the importance of the cervicovaginal microbiome, the mechanisms that govern its composition and drive its impact on host physiology remain poorly understood. With the aim to expand our understanding of the function and ecology of the vaginal microbiome, we present VIRGO2, an enhanced non-redundant gene catalog comprising over 1.7 million well-annotated genes from body-site specific microbes and viruses. Analyses using VIRGO2 reveal insights such as including the identification of previously uncharacterized vaginal bacteria, features of the vaginal mycobiome and phageome, and differential expression of bacterial carbohydrate catabolic genes. Constructed from over 2500 metagenomes and 4000 bacterial genomes, VIRGO2 broadens geographic representation and microbial diversity compared to its predecessor. This updated catalog enables more precise profiling of taxonomic and functional composition from metagenomic and metatranscriptomic datasets. VIRGO2 is a critical resource for integrative analyses of vaginal microbial communities and their interactions with host tissues, thereby enhancing our mechanistic understanding of vaginal health and disease.