Abstract
Although the pig has been introduced as an advanced animal model of genital tract infections in women, almost no knowledge exists on the porcine vaginal microbiota, especially in barrier-raised Göttingen Minipigs. In women, the vaginal microbiota plays a crucial role for a healthy vaginal environment and the fate of sexually transmitted infections such as Chlamydia trachomatis infections. Therefore, knowledge on the vaginal microbiota is urgently needed for the minipig model. The aim of this study was to characterize the microbiota of the anterior vagina by 16 s rRNA gene sequencing in prepubertal and sexually mature Göttingen Minipigs during an estrous cycle. The dominating phyla in the vaginal microbiota consisted of Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteriodetes and Tenericutes. The most abundant bacterial families were Enterobacteriaceae, unclassified families from Gammaproteobacteria, Clostridiales Family XI Incertae Sedis, Paenibacillaceae, Lactobacillaceae, Ruminococcaceae and Syntrophaceae. We found a higher abundance of Lactobacillaceae in the prepubertal Göttingen Minipigs compared to sexually mature non-pregnant Göttingen Minipigs. However, correlation tests and diversity parameters revealed a very stable vaginal microbiota in the Göttingen Minipigs, both before and after sexual maturity and on different days throughout an estrous cycle. The vaginal microbiota in Göttingen Minipigs was not dominated by lactobacilli, as it is in women and according to our results the minipig vaginal microbiota is very stable, in opposite to women. These differences should be considered when using the minipig as a model of the genital tract in women.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13567-015-0274-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Trustworthy and predictive animal models are essential for gaining insight into diseases and new treatment strategies [1]
The vaginal microbiota was characterized in ten prepubertal minipigs and ten sexually mature minipigs during an estrous cycle by 16S ribosomal ribonucleuic acid (rRNA) gene sequencing
After quality control of the resulting sequences, the resulting dataset consisted of 7 516 123 high-quality sequences that were uploaded to MGRAST
Summary
Trustworthy and predictive animal models are essential for gaining insight into diseases and new treatment strategies [1]. The female pig has been introduced as an advanced animal model of the genital tract in women [2–4] due to significant anatomical and physiological similarity between pigs and humans [5]. The pig has e.g. been introduced as a model of human genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection [2] in the need for an advanced animal model for evaluation of C. trachomatis vaccine. In women, it is unclear exactly which underlying hostpathogen interactions and conditions that determine whether a sexually transmitted infection (STI) for example with C. trachomatis is cleared after an asymptomatic course or if it is allowed to ascend, become chronic and cause pathology in the Fallopian tubes [9]. Characterization of the microbiota in women by 16 s rRNA sequencing has revealed a very complex composition [15]. 16 s rRNA gene sequencing has shown that the microbiota is very susceptible to internal and external factors and that the composition can be highly fluctuating throughout a menstrual cycle [15, 16]
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