TITLE:
Distinct Microbial Niches in Urinary Stones and Paired Urine Samples Characterized by 16S rRNA Sequencing
AUTHORS:
Shuyang Yu, Tingting Liang, Yuan Gao, Heng Li, Zhemin Zhou, Xuejie Wu
KEYWORDS:
Urinary Microbiome, Urolithiasis, 16S rRNA Sequencing, Biofilm, Microbial Ecology, Diagnostic Biomarkers
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biosciences and Medicines,
Vol.14 No.4,
April
13,
2026
ABSTRACT: Distinct yet linked microbial ecosystems in urinary stones and urine may influence stone pathogenesis. This study characterized the microbiome of 59 paired stone and urine samples using 16S rRNA sequencing and clinical correlation analysis. Results showed that stone biofilms were enriched with environmental bacteria (e.g., Christensenella, Chromobacterium), whereas urine primarily harbored uropathogens (e.g., Klebsiella, Acinetobacter). Significant gender and pathogen-specific patterns emerged, with Mycoplasma/Ureaplasma infections showing female predominance (85.7%) and Group 2 showing the highest median crystalluria value (57.8 counts) together with the lowest median urinary pH (6.19), although these observations were interpreted descriptively and not as statistically significant pairwise associations. Distance metrics (0 - 0.88) demonstrated varying microbial similarity between samples, with closer clustering among stone-associated communities. These findings support ecological differentiation between urinary stones and paired urine, while indicating that mechanistic and causal interpretation requires further validation.