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Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This work was funded by the grant RTI-2018-096487-R-C33 from the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades, Spain; CSIC (2022 AEP004), Spain; and Fondos FEDER. ELR-P is supported by an FPI grant PRE2019-090087 from the Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades. FP-S is supported by grant 2022-04801 from the Swedish Research Council.

Impact on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Analysis of institutional authors

Calvo, J HAuthor

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May 27, 2025
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Characterization of bacterial communities of ewe's vaginal tract and its potential impact on reproductive efficiency

Publicated to:Animal Microbiome. 7 (1): 48- - 2025-05-14 7(1), DOI: 10.1186/s42523-025-00383-2

Authors: Reinoso-Peláez, EL; Puente-Sánchez, F; Serrano, M; Calvo, JH; Ramón, M; Saura, M

Affiliations

ARAID Ctr Invest & Tecnol Agroalimentaria Aragon C, Ave Montanana 930, Zaragoza 50059, Spain - Author
Inst Invest Marinas IIM CSIC, Rue Eduardo Cabello 6, Vigo 36208, Spain - Author
Inst Nacl Invest & Tecnol Agr & Alimentaria INIA C, Ctra La Coruna,Km 7-5, Madrid 28040, Spain - Author
Swedish Univ Agr Sci, Dept Aquat Sci & Assessment, Uppsala, Sweden - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Escuela Tecn Super Ingn Agron, Alimentaria & Biosistemas, Madrid, Spain - Author
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Abstract

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.

Keywords

Artificial inseminationArtificial-inseminationBacterial communitiesFertilityFreshLife below waterOvineReproductive successSemenSheeStorageVaginal microbiotVaginal microbiota

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Animal Microbiome due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2025, it was in position 32/161, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Microbiology.

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-13:

  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 2 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

    It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

    Continuing with the social impact of the work, it is important to emphasize that, due to its content, it can be assigned to the area of interest of ODS 14 - Life below water, with a probability of 80% according to the mBERT algorithm developed by Aurora University.

    Leadership analysis of institutional authors

    This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Sweden.