scholarly journals The female urinary microbiota in relation to the reproductive tract microbiota

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Chen ◽  
Lilan Hao ◽  
Weixia Wei ◽  
Fei Li ◽  
Liju Song ◽  
...  

AbstractHuman urine is traditionally considered to be sterile, and whether the urine harbours distinct microbial communities has been a matter of debate. The potential link between female urine and reproductive tract microbial communities is currently not clear.Here we collected the urine samples from 147 Chinese women of reproductive age, and explored the nature of colonization by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, real-time qPCR and live bacteria culture. To demonstrate utility intra-individual Spearman’s correlation was used to explore the relationship between urine and multi-sites of the reproductive tract. PERMANOVA was also performed to explore potential correlations between the lifestyle and various clinical factors and urinary bacterial communities. Our data demonstrated distinct bacterial communities in urine, indicative of a non-sterile environment. Types of diverse, Streptococcus-dominated, and Lactobacillus-dominated were the three most common types in the cohort. Detailed comparison of the urinary microbiota to the multi-sites of reproductive tract microbiota demonstrated the urinary microbiota was more similar to the microbiota in the cervix and uterine cavity instead of vagina in the same women.Our data demonstrates the potential connectivity of the microbiota in the female urogenital system and provided insight into the exploration of urethra and genital tract diseases.

Gigabyte ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Chen Chen ◽  
Lilan Hao ◽  
Weixia Wei ◽  
Fei Li ◽  
Liju Song ◽  
...  

Human urine is traditionally considered to be sterile, and whether the urine harbours distinct microbial communities has been a matter of debate. Potential links between female urine and reproductive tract microbial communities is currently not clear. Here, we collected urine samples from 147 Chinese women of reproductive age and explored the nature of colonization by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, quantitative real-time PCR, and live bacteria culture. To demonstrate the utility of this approach, the intra-individual Spearman’s correlation was used to explore the relationship between urine and multiple sites of the female reproductive tract. PERMANOVA was also performed to explore potential correlations between the lifestyle and various clinical factors and urinary bacterial communities. Our data demonstrated distinct bacterial communities in urine, indicative of a non-sterile environment. Streptococcus-dominated, Lactobacillus-dominated, and diverse type were the three most common urinary bacterial community types in the cohort. Detailed comparison of the urinary microbiota with multiple sites of the female reproductive tract microbiota demonstrated that the urinary microbiota were more similar to the microbiota in the cervix and uterine cavity than to those of the vagina in the same women. Our data demonstrate the potential connectivity among microbiota in the female urogenital system and provide insight and resources for exploring diseases of the urethra and genital tract.


2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 128-129
Author(s):  
Rebecca K Poole ◽  
Taylor B Ault-Seay ◽  
Rebecca R Payton ◽  
Phillip R Myer ◽  
Andrea S Lear ◽  
...  

Abstract Local immune activity in the reproductive tract is crucial in the response to uterine diseases, normal reproductive functions, and establishing pregnancy. Few studies have evaluated the influence of the local immune environment of the reproductive tract on fertility outcomes. The objectives were to 1) evaluate reproductive cytokine concentrations in postpartum cows undergoing estrus synchronization followed by timed artificial insemination (TAI) and 2) correlate reproductive bacterial communities with cytokine concentrations. Angus cows (n = 20) were subjected to a 7-Day Co-Synch protocol with pre-synchronization beginning 21 days prior (d -21) to TAI (d 0). Uterine and vaginal flushes were collected on d -21 and -2. Pregnancy was determined by transrectal ultrasound on d 30. Bacterial community profiling and analyses were conducted targeting the V1 to V3 hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene. Cytokine concentrations for interleukin (IL)-1b, IL-6, IL-10, and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) were determined by commercial ELISA kits. Concentration data were analyzed using PROC MIXED and correlations using Pearson correlation in SAS. No differences were detected in vaginal samples (P >0.05). No differences in IL-10 or IL-1b concentrations were detected in uterine samples (P >0.05). Uterine TGF-β concentrations were greater in resulting pregnant than non-pregnant cows (44.0 ± 13.4 pg/mL vs 14.7 ± 4.9 pg/mL; P = 0.05). Uterine TGF-β was negatively correlated with the relative abundance of genera Treponema (r = -0.668; P = 0.05) in resulting non-pregnant cows on d -21. Uterine IL-6 concentrations were greater in resulting non-pregnant than pregnant cows (198.7 ± 21.8 pg/mL vs 144.3 ± 16.1 pg/mL; P = 0.05). Uterine IL-6 and the relative abundance of genera Butyrivibrio were positively correlated (r = 0.742; P = 0.02) in resulting non-pregnant cows on d -21. These results suggest possible relationships between uterine bacterial communities and cytokines prior to TAI that may ultimately affect fertility outcomes in beef cattle.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 20180225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian K. Trevelline ◽  
Kirsty J. MacLeod ◽  
Sarah A. Knutie ◽  
Tracy Langkilde ◽  
Kevin D. Kohl

Vertebrate gut microbiota mediate critical physiological processes known to affect host fitness, but the mechanisms that expose wildlife to pioneer members of this important microbial community are not well understood. For example, oviparous vertebrates are thought to acquire gut microbiota through post-natal exposure to the external environment, but recent evidence from placental mammals suggests that the vertebrate reproductive tract harbours microbiota that may inoculate offspring in utero . These findings suggest that oviparous vertebrates may be capable of acquiring pioneer microbiota in ovo , but this phenomenon remains unexplored. To fill this knowledge gap, we used culture-independent inventories to determine if the eggs of wild birds and lizards harboured in ovo microbial communities. Our approach revealed distinct in ovo bacterial communities, but fungal communities were indistinguishable from controls. Further, lizard eggs from the same clutch had bacterial community structures that were more similar to each other than to unrelated individuals. These results suggest that oviparous vertebrates may acquire maternal microbiota in ovo , possibly through the inoculation of egg yolk prior to shelling. Therefore, this study may provide a first glimpse of a phenomenon with substantial implications for our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary factors shaping gut microbial communities.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 1673
Author(s):  
Andrea K. Borsodi ◽  
Márton Mucsi ◽  
Gergely Krett ◽  
Attila Szabó ◽  
Tamás Felföldi ◽  
...  

In this study, we examined the effect of salinity and alkalinity on the metabolic potential and taxonomic composition of microbiota inhabiting the sodic soils in different plant communities. The soil samples were collected in the Pannonian steppe (Hungary, Central Europe) under extreme dry and wet weather conditions. The metabolic profiles of microorganisms were analyzed using the MicroResp method, the bacterial diversity was assessed by cultivation and next-generation amplicon sequencing based on the 16S rRNA gene. Catabolic profiles of microbial communities varied primarily according to the alkali vegetation types. Most members of the strain collection were identified as plant associated and halophilic/alkaliphilic species of Micrococcus, Nesterenkonia, Nocardiopsis, Streptomyces (Actinobacteria) and Bacillus, Paenibacillus (Firmicutes) genera. Based on the pyrosequencing data, the relative abundance of the phyla Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Acidobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes and Bacteroidetes also changed mainly with the sample types, indicating distinctions within the compositions of bacterial communities according to the sodic soil alkalinity-salinity gradient. The effect of weather extremes was the most pronounced in the relative abundance of the phyla Actinobacteria and Acidobacteria. The type of alkali vegetation caused greater shifts in both the diversity and activity of sodic soil microbial communities than the extreme aridity and moisture.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Wang ◽  
Fabian Staubach

AbstractD. melanogaster has become an important model organism to study host-microbe interaction. However, we still know little about the natural microbial communities that are associated with D. melanogaster. Especially, information on inter-individual variation is still lacking because most studies so far have used pooled material from several flies. Here, we collected bacterial 16S rRNA gene community profiles from a set of 32 individuals from a single population and compare the variation to that of samples collected from different substrates and locations. While community differences were on average larger between samples collected from different substrates, there was still a surprising amount of variation of microbial communities between individual flies. The samples clustered into two groups suggesting that there are yet unknown factors that affect the composition of natural fly associated microbial communities and need research.ImportanceD. melanogaster is an important model organism in evolutionary biology and also for the study of host-microbe interaction. In order to connect these to aspects of D. melanogaster biology, it is crucial to better understand the natural D. melanogaster microbiota because only the natural microbiota can affect the evolution of the host. We present, to our knowledge, the first data set that captures inter-individual variation of D. melanogaster associated bacterial communities. Clustering of communities into two larger groups suggests that there are important drivers of these communities that we do not understand yet suggesting in return that more research on the natural microbiota of D. melanogaster is needed.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ezequiel Santillan ◽  
Hari Seshan ◽  
Florentin Constancias ◽  
Stefan Wuertz

SummaryTrait-based approaches are increasingly gaining importance in community ecology, as a way of finding general rules for the mechanisms driving changes in community structure and function under the influence of perturbations. Frameworks for life-history strategies have been successfully applied to describe changes in plant and animal communities upon disturbance. To evaluate their applicability to complex bacterial communities, we operated replicated wastewater treatment bioreactors for 35 days and subjected them to eight different disturbance frequencies of a toxic pollutant (3-chloroaniline), starting with a mixed inoculum from a full-scale treatment plant. Relevant ecosystem functions were tracked and microbial communities assessed through metagenomics and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Combining a series of ordination, statistical and network analysis methods, we associated different life-history strategies with microbial communities across the disturbance range. These strategies were evaluated using tradeoffs in community function and genotypic potential, and changes in bacterial genus composition. We further compared our findings with other ecological studies and adopted a semi-quantitative CSR (competitors, ruderals, stress-tolerants) classification. The framework reduces complex datasets of microbial traits, functions, and taxa into ecologically meaningful components to help understand the system response to disturbance, and hence represents a promising tool for managing microbial communities.Originality-Significance StatementThis study establishes, for the first time, CSR life-history strategies in the context of bacterial communities. This framework is explained using community aggregated traits in an environment other than soil, also a first, using a combination of ordination methods, network analysis, and genotypic information from shotgun metagenomics and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas R. Koester ◽  
Amy L. Petry ◽  
Curtis R. Youngs ◽  
Stephan Schmitz-Esser

Reproductive performance is paramount to the success of livestock production enterprises focused on lamb meat production. Reproductive success is influenced by various factors, possibly including the reproductive tract microbial communities present at the time of copulation and throughout pregnancy. There are few publications that identify the vaginal microbial communities of livestock, and even fewer exist for sheep. To compare ewe vaginal microbial communities, vaginal swabs were taken from 67 Hampshire and Hampshire X Suffolk crossbred ewes from the Iowa State University sheep farm at a pre-breeding time point (S1) and after pregnancy testing (S2). Animals that were determined pregnant were sampled again within a few days of expected parturition (S3). DNA was extracted from these swabs, and 16S rRNA gene Illumina MiSeq amplicon sequencing was conducted to fingerprint the bacterial communities found within this system. Pre-breeding time point samples showed no differences in community structure between animals later found to be pregnant or non-pregnant, but significant changes were detected in species richness (Chao; P < 0.001) and species diversity (Shannon; P < 0.001) at the second sampling time point. A higher microbial diversity within the S2 time point samples may suggest a more stable environment driven by pregnancy, as this increased diversity is maintained in pregnant animals from the S2 to the S3 time point. Additionally, several bacterial phylotypes, such as Mannheimia, Oscillospiraceae-like OTUs and Alistipes, were more abundant at either the S1 or S2 time points in animals that established pregnancy, suggesting a beneficial effect on pregnancy outcome. This study identifies changes within the microbial communities of the ewe vagina before and during gestation and offers inferences on how these changes may impact pregnancy outcome. Information presented herein offers new knowledge about sheep vaginal microbial communities and serves as a starting point to help guide researchers to improve sheep reproductive performance in the future.


2021 ◽  
pp. 11-12
Author(s):  
Santoshkumar Bhise

Context:Infertility has risen to be a public health problem in India, National Family Health Survey (NFHS) – 4 estimates showing 5.2% of the women in reproductive age group to be infertile. Infertility can be due to male factors, female factors and in some cases unexplained; female factors comprising of 40-45% of the total cases. Amongst the female factors anatomical congenital anomalies as well as acquired abnormalities of the reproductive tract may cause primary or secondary infertility. Aims: This study aimed at looking at the distribution of congenital anatomical anomalies of the uterus and fallopian tubes as well as the distribution of anatomical changes in uterus and fallopian tubes due to pathological conditions through Hysterosalpingograhy (HSG) in infertile women. Methods & Materials: 103 women attending Obs. and Gyneac. OPD for diagnosis and treatment of infertility in a tertiary care hospital in Central India were selected in this observation study. Sampling was purposive. HSG was performed and the data was obtained from the department of radiology. Descriptive analysis was done, and where applicable bi-variate analysis was done with chi-square test. Results:There were 63 cases of primary (mean age = 25 years ± 3.2) and 40 cases of secondary infertility (mean age = 30 years ± 2.9). 24% of the total cases had tubal occlusion, 16.5% had hydrosalpinx, 4% had arcuate and bicornuate uterus each and 1 % had unicornuate uterus, lling defects in uterus, deviation of uterine cavity, T-shaped uterus and sub-mucous broid each. 47% of the cases had normal HSG ndings. Conclusions: The results show that acquired causes of tubes were most common ndings in HSG of infertile women, pointing to preventable and easily manageable cases of infections of reproductive tract. Timely management of such cases at primary health care level can help reduction of infertility cases.


PeerJ ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e3437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer M. DeBruyn ◽  
Kathleen A. Hauther

The human microbiome has demonstrated an importance for the health and functioning in living individuals. However, the fate of the microbiome after death is less understood. In addition to a better understanding of microbe-mediated decomposition processes, postmortem succession of human-associated microbial communities has been suggested as a possible forensic tool for estimating time since death, or postmortem interval (PMI). The objective of our study was to document postmortem changes in human gut bacterial communities. Gut microflora were repeatedly sampled from the caeca of cadavers as they decayed under natural environmental conditions. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing revealed that over time, bacterial richness significantly increased (rs = 0.449) while diversity decreased (rs =  − 0.701). The composition of gut bacterial communities changed in a similar manner over time towards a common decay community. OTUs belonging to Bacteroidales (Bacteroides, Parabacteroides) significantly declined while Clostridiales (Clostridium, Anaerosphaera) and the fly-associated Gammaproteobacteria Ignatzschineria and Wohlfahrtiimonas increased. Our examination of human caeca microflora in decomposing cadavers adds to the growing literature on postmortem microbial communities, which will ultimately contribute to a better understanding of decomposition processes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. 43-44
Author(s):  
Rebecca Poole ◽  
Taylor B Ault ◽  
Phillip R Myer ◽  
Andrea Lear ◽  
Ky Pohler

Abstract Numerous factors impact reproductive success in beef cattle; however, the presence and activity of bacteria in the reproductive tract and its effects on fertility is relatively unknown. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between reproductive tract bacterial communities and cytokine profiles prior to timed-AI (TAI) and compare between resulting pregnancy status at d30. Sixty-eight beef cows, 80 ± 2.6 d postpartum at TAI, were synchronized and subjected to TAI on d0. Pregnancy was diagnosed via transrectal ultrasonography on d30. Uterine and vaginal flushes were collected on d -21 and -2 for bacterial DNA extraction to sequence the V1-V3 hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene and to measure pro-inflammatory [interlukin-6 (IL-6)] and anti-inflammatory [IL-10 and transforming growth factor-beta (TGFβ)] cytokine concentrations using validated commercial ELISAs. Concentration data were analyzed using repeated measures in PROC MIXED of SAS and correlations were performed in SAS using Pearson correlation. There were no differences in cytokine concentrations by day or status x day. There were no differences in uterine IL-6 or IL-10 concentrations (P > 0.05). Uterine TGFβ concentrations were overall elevated in pregnant cows compared to open cows (72.6 vs. 13.7 ± 12.1 pg/mL, respectively; P < 0.05). On d -2, a positive correlation exists between TGFβ and the relative abundance of Actinobacteria in the uterus of pregnant cows (r=0.93, P = 0.02). There were no differences in vaginal IL-6 or TGFβ concentrations (P > 0.05). On d -2, vaginal IL-10 concentrations were elevated in open cows compared to pregnant cows (741.6 vs. 602.1 ± 47.0 pg/mL, respectively; P < 0.05) and a positive correlation exists between IL-10 and the relative abundance of Lentisphaerae in the vagina of pregnant cows (r=0.89, P = 0.04). These data suggest a possible relationship between bacterial communities and cytokines concentrations within the reproductive tract of beef cattle which may affect fertility.


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