Vaginal bacterial microbiota of an endangered donkey breed: a comparison between Asinina de Miranda (Equus asinus) jennies with and without reproductive problems

Abstract

is study provided an overview of the vaginal bacterial microbiota of Miranda donkey breed jennies with and without reproductive problems. is Portuguese autochthonous donkey bred is in danger of extinction. Bacteria isolated were predominantly Gram-positive and belonging to the genera of Bacillus spp, Corynebacterium spp., Lactobacillus spp., Staphylococcus spp. and Streptococcus spp.. e species found in the vaginal microbiota were diverse and didn't di er signi cantly between the jennies with and without reproductive problems. However the isolates of Streptococcus zooepidemicus of jennies with reproductive problems presented a higher number of the studied genes encoding virulence factors then the isolate without reproductive problems. is is the rst study reporting vaginal bacterial microbiota of Miranda donkey breed jennies. Since there are few studies regarding the vaginal microbiota of equines, especially in this donkey breed, these results can be an asset for future studies.