Vaginal Microbiome Characterization of Nellore Cattle Using Metagenomic Analysis

Understanding of microbial communities inhabiting cattle vaginal tract may lead to a better comprehension of bovine physiology and reproductive health being of great economic interest. Up to date, studies involving cattle microbiota are focused on the gastrointestinal tract, and little is known abou...

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Published in:	PloS one 2015-11, Vol.10 (11), p.e0143294-e0143294
Main Authors:	Laguardia-Nascimento, Mateus, Branco, Kelly Moreira Grillo Ribeiro, Gasparini, Marcela Ribeiro, Giannattasio-Ferraz, Silvia, Leite, Laura Rabelo, Araujo, Flávio Marcos Gomes, Salim, Anna Christina de Matos, Nicoli, Jacques Robert, de Oliveira, Guilherme Corrêa, Barbosa-Stancioli, Edel Figueiredo
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Analysis Animals Archaea Archaea - classification Archaea - genetics Bacteria Bacteria - classification Bacteria - genetics Bacteroidetes Bovidae Cattle Chemical properties Colonization Communities Deoxyribonucleic acid DNA Eukaryotes Female Firmicutes Fungi Fungi - classification Fungi - genetics Gastrointestinal tract Gene Library Genetic aspects Genomes Health aspects Health care High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing Library collections Life assessment Metabolism Metagenome Microbial activity Microbiomes Microbiota Microbiota (Symbiotic organisms) Microorganisms Phylogeny Physiological aspects Pregnancy Pregnant women Proteobacteria Reproduction Reproductive health Reproductive systems Vagina Vagina - microbiology
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Summary:	Understanding of microbial communities inhabiting cattle vaginal tract may lead to a better comprehension of bovine physiology and reproductive health being of great economic interest. Up to date, studies involving cattle microbiota are focused on the gastrointestinal tract, and little is known about the vaginal microbiota. This study aimed to investigate the vaginal microbiome in Nellore cattle, heifers and cows, pregnant and non-pregnant, using a culture independent approach. The main bacterial phyla found were Firmicutes (~40-50%), Bacteroidetes (~15-25%) and Proteobacteria (~5-25%), in addition to ~10-20% of non-classified bacteria. 45-55% of the samples were represented by only ten OTUs: Aeribacillus, Bacteroides, Clostridium, Ruminococcus, Rikenella, Alistipes, Bacillus, Eubacterium, Prevotella and non-classified bacteria. Interestingly, microbiota from all 20 animals could be grouped according to the respiratory metabolism of the main OTUs found, creating three groups of vaginal microbiota in cattle. Archaeal samples were dominated by the Methanobrevibacter genus (Euryarchaeota, ~55-70%). Ascomycota was the main fungal phylum (~80-95%) and Mycosphaerella the most abundant genus (~70-85%). Hormonal influence was not clear, but a tendency for the reduction of bacterial and increase of archaeal populations in pregnant animals was observed. Eukaryotes did not vary significantly between pregnant and non-pregnant animals, but tended to be more abundant on cows than on heifers. The present work describes a great microbial variability in the vaginal community among the evaluated animals and groups (heifers and cows, pregnant and non-pregnant), which is significantly different from the findings previously reported using culture dependent methods, pointing out the need for further studies on this issue. The microbiome found also indicates that the vaginal colonization appears to be influenced by the gastrointestinal community.
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203