Lactobacilli are ubiquitous in nature and in humans they play a very significant role in the general
health maintenance of the host. Identification of lactobacilli has previously been based on culturedependent
methods and recently molecular techniques involving gene sequencing are now the ‘gold
standard’. Scarce information exists in Africa on the real identity of Lactobacillus species, albeit
phylogenetic distances among the species present in the human vagina. In this study, 185 vaginal
swabs were collected from healthy premenopausal women (18 to 48 years). Bacterial DNA was
extracted, amplified using PCR, with group specific Lactobacillus primers, and processed by
denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Phylogenetic tree was constructed with the sequences
of the V2-V3 region of 16S rRNA gene. Results show two distinct divisions among the Lactobacillus
species. The study presents a new understanding of the nature of the Lactobacillus vaginal microbiota
of women in Nigeria, which may lead to the design of probiotic-lactobacilli for biotherapy.