Characterization of bovine vaginal microbiota and its relationship with host phenotypes

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Brulin, Louise | Ducrocq, S. | Even, G. | Sanchez, M.P. | Martel, S. | Audebert, C. | Croiseau, P. | Estellé, Jordi

Edité par CCSD -

International audience. Many studies highlighted the important role of microbiota for the physiology and homeostasis of their host animals. In cattle, these studies mainly focused on the digestive tract and, more especially, on the rumen. Yet, there is a growing interest in the microbiota associated with the female reproductive tract because it could influence fertility-related traits or gestation ability, which are key components of a cow’s productive life. Thus, the present study aims to better characterize the vaginal microbiota, identify possible factors influencing its composition and diversity, and explore its relationships with relevant host phenotypes. For this purpose, 1,365 vaginal swabs were sampled on 1,101 non-pregnant Holstein cows, with one to five samples per animal. These dairy cows, from 19 commercial farms located in northern France, could be either heifers or lactating cows in their first to fifth lactation. Oestrous cycle, health status, gestation, and production were monitored for all cows. The frozen vaginal swabs were sequenced for the 16Sbacterial gene using the Miseq Illumina technology. Then, the data were processed using the DADA2 package to obtain the ASV tables. The existence of a vaginal core microbiota has been investigated and we have explored how animal characteristics or environmental factors shape the vaginal microbiota. Apart from the herd management and sampling conditions, the diversity of the vaginal microbiota, mainly composed of Firmicutes (46%), was significantly associated with the lactation rank and the oestrus cycle stages. In addition, we evaluated the association between the microbiota α-diversity and composition and major fertility-related traits, such as the insemination success, to estimate the predictive potential of the vaginal microbiota on the host reproductive performances. Initial results showed correlations between the variations in vaginal microbiota diversity and the number of inseminations. Overall, our studywill potentially represent a step forward in the comprehension of the relationships between the vaginal microbiota composition and fertility-related traits.

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