Characterization of bacterial communities of ewe’s vaginal tract and its potential impact on reproductive efficiency
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Date
2025-05-14
Authors
Reinoso Peláez, Edgar L.Puente Sánchez, F.
Serrano Noreña, Magdalena
Calvo Lacosta, Jorge Hugo
Ramón, Manuel
Saura, María
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Typology
texto , revista , artículo , artículo originalAbstract
The success rate of artificial insemination in sheep remains suboptimal, which has led to an emerging interest in the impact of the reproductive tract microbiome on this process. This research aims to identify the ewes’ vaginal core bacterial community, examine the factors influencing bacterial composition, and to determine the association between vaginal bacteria and pregnancy success. By using a robust dataset comprising 331 multiparous ewes from three Spanish breeds (Latxa, Manchega, Rasa Aragonesa) across four herds, this study performed the sequencing of the hypervariable regions V3-V4 of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene and the identification of Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASV) to analyze the bacterial community. Our analysis revealed a core bacterial primarily consisting of the genera Streptobacillus, Histophilus, Fusobacterium, Oceanivirga, and Parvimonas. Alpha and beta diversity, as well as Random Forest analysis, identified that herd and breed were the main drivers of bacterial variability. PERMANOVA analysis also showed significant differences in bacterial composition and abundance associated with pregnancy outcomes. Notably, specific ASVs associated with Fusobacterium, Leptotrichia, Histophilus, Escherichia, and Bacteroides were predominantly found in non-pregnant ewes, while genera such as Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, and Brevundimonas were more abundant in pregnant ewes. This study contributes to the knowledge about the critical roles of specific bacteria in determining reproductive success in sheep and provides novel insights about the importance of different factors involved in the composition of ewes’ vaginal bacterial communities.
Description
Keywords
Artificial insemination, Bacterial communities, Fertility, Ovine, Reproductive success, Vaginal microbiota
Bibliographic citation
Reinoso-Peláez, E. L., Puente-Sánchez, F., Serrano, M., Calvo, J. H., Ramón, M., & Saura, M. (2025). Characterization of bacterial communities of ewe’s vaginal tract and its potential impact on reproductive efficiency. Animal Microbiome, 7(1), 48. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42523-025-00383-2
AGROVOC subjects
Ai (artificial insemination)Microbiota
Fertilidad
Ovino
Tasa de partos en ganado ovino
Sponsorship
Este trabajo fue financiado por la subvención RTI-2018-096487-R-C33 del Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, España; CSIC (2022 AEP004), España; y Fondos FEDER. ELR-P está apoyado por una beca FPI PRE2019-090087 del Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades. FP-S está apoyado por la subvención 2022-04801 del Consejo de Investigación de Suecia