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

This study provided an overview of the vaginal bacterial microbiota of Asinina de Miranda jennies with and without reproductive problems. This 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.. The species found in the vaginal microbiota were diverse and didn’t differ much 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. This is the first study reporting vaginal bacterial microbiota of Asinina de Miranda 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.