Abstract: Disclosed herein are embodiments of a method for using estrogenic compounds to manipulate the bacterial composition of vaginal communities of female subjects. The method may include titrating a dose of an estrogenic compound to provide a female subject with a personalized effective dose, such as a minimum effective dose, sufficient to attain and/or maintain one or more determined target values of a relative abundance of vaginal Lactobacillus in the vaginal microbiota, an absolute abundance of vaginal Lactobacillus in the vaginal microbiota, a vaginal pH, a vaginal lactic acid concentration, or any combination thereof.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides embodiments of a method for characterizing microbial populations. Exemplified by methods for characterizing microbiota in vaginal samples, the methods provided herein are widely applicable to the characterization of microbial communities. Also provided are probiotic regimens and methods for selecting appropriate probiotic regimens based on the normal vaginal microbiota of a subject. Reagents and kits for detecting normal vaginal microbiota and diagnosing pathogenic microorganisms in the vagina are also provided.

Abstract: The present disclosure provides methods for defining one or more microbial communities. In an example, the method can include providing a plurality of microbial profiles, wherein each microbial profile is established from a sample of microorganisms obtained from an individual subject. The method can also include identifying one or more consensus profiles from among the plurality of microbial profiles. These methods can be used to characterize normal and pathological microflora in vaginal samples.