Unveiling Archaeal Roles in Urogenital Microbiome: Implications for Yeast Infections

Uncovering archaeal diversity and function in the urogenital tract offers a fresh lens on yeast infection biology, especially recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (RVVC). While the vaginal microbiota has been studied mainly through its bacterial members, archaea remain a major blind spot—partly due to historical method limits (e.g., primer bias, low biomass sampling challenges, and under-used archaeal reference databases). Using modern, high-resolution sequencing approaches (including archaeal-targeted amplicon strategies, shotgun metagenomics, and transcript-informed functional profiling where feasible), this Research Topic will map the presence, abundance, and community patterns of archaea across vaginal health states and RVVC-associated dysbiosis.Beyond detection, this collection will focus on what archaea are doing in the vaginal ecosystem and how they may shape yeast infection risk. We encourage studies that test interkingdom interactions—archaea with bacteria and fungi—through multi-omics, cultivation or enrichment strategies, metabolomics, and mechanistic modeling. Key questions include whether archaeal metabolic traits (e.g., redox balancing, hydrogen turnover, methylated compound metabolism) influence bacterial community stability, local nutrient landscapes, host immune tone, or Candida growth and virulence. By clarifying archaeal contributions to urogenital ecology, the Research Topic aims to expand the extra-intestinal microbiota framework and open realistic routes toward microbe-informed interventions that consider archaeal–bacterial–fungal networks, not bacteria alone.We welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:-Archaea in the vaginal microbiota are understudied compared with bacteria and fungi.-RVVC provides a clinically relevant model to examine community-level drivers of yeast overgrowth and persistence.-Method development matters: archaeal signal can be missed due to primer bias, low biomass, and limited reference catalogs.-Cutting-edge approaches (archaeal-targeted sequencing + shotgun methods) can improve detection and functional inference.-Studies should assess archaeal diversity, prevalence, and stability across health, VVC, and RVVC.-Functional work is encouraged to link archaeal metabolism to community chemistry (e.g., redox state, nutrient flux).-Interkingdom interaction studies can reveal whether archaea modulate bacterial resilience or Candida behavior.-Host-focused work can test links between archaea and mucosal immunity, inflammation, and epithelial barrier function.-Multi-omics and mechanistic experiments can help move from association to causality in RVVC-related dysbiosis.-Findings may inform novel therapeutic strategies that account for archaeal–bacterial–fungal networks in the urogenital tract. Topic editors: Jaime Garcia-Mena, Selvasankar Murugesan Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/77275/unveiling-archaeal-roles-in-urogenital-microbiome-implications-for-yeast-infections