Development of a Prevotella bivia PNA probe and a multiplex approach to detect three relevant species in bacterial vaginosis-associated biofilms

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common vaginal infection worldwide. We developed a peptide nucleic acid (PNA) probe targeting Prevotella bivia, a common BV-associated bacteria, and optimized a multiplex approach for detection of Gardnerella spp., P. bivia and Fannyhessea vaginae. Our P. bivia PNA probe specifically detected the target species, and the optimized multiplex approach was able to detect the presence of the three species in multi-species BV biofilms.