Molina Nerea M, Plaza-Díaz Julio, Vilchez-Vargas Ramiro, Sola-Leyva Alberto, Vargas Eva, Mendoza-Tesarik Raquel, Galán-Lázaro Maribel, Mendoza-Ladrón de Guevara Nicolás, Tesarik Jan, Altmäe Signe
University of Granada, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology I, Faculty of Sciences, Granada 18071, Spain; Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada 18014, Spain.
Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria ibs.GRANADA, Granada 18014, Spain; University of Granada, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology II, Faculty of Pharmacy, Granada 18071, Spain; Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INYTA), 'José Mataix Verdú' Biomedical Research Centre (CIBM), University of Granada, Granada 18016, Spain; Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa ON K1H 8L1, Canada.
Reprod Biomed Online. 2021 Sep;43(3):523-531. doi: 10.1016/j.rbmo.2021.06.021. Epub 2021 Jun 29.
The semen harbours a diverse range of microorganisms. The origin of the seminal microbes, however, has not yet been established. Do testicular spermatozoa harbour microbes and could they potentially contribute to the seminal microbiome composition?
The study included 24 samples, comprising a total of 307 testicular maturing spermatozoa. A high-throughput sequencing method targeting V3 and V4 regions of 16S rRNA gene was applied. A series of negative controls together with stringent in-silico decontamination methods were analysed.
Between 50 and 70% of all the detected bacterial reads accounted for contamination in the testicular sperm samples. After stringent decontamination, Blautia (P = 0.04), Cellulosibacter (P = 0.02), Clostridium XIVa (P = 0.01), Clostridium XIVb (P = 0.04), Clostridium XVIII (P = 0.02), Collinsella (P = 0.005), Prevotella (P = 0.04), Prolixibacter (P = 0.02), Robinsoniella (P = 0.04), and Wandonia (P = 0.04) genera demonstrated statistically significant abundance among immature spermatozoa.
Our results indicate that the human testicle harbours potential bacterial signature, though in a low-biomass, and could contribute to the seminal microbiome composition. Further, applying stringent decontamination methods is crucial for analysing microbiome in low-biomass site.
精液中存在多种微生物。然而，精液微生物的来源尚未明确。睾丸精子中是否存在微生物，它们是否可能对精液微生物群的组成有贡献？
该研究纳入了24个样本，共包含307个睾丸成熟精子。采用针对16S rRNA基因V3和V4区域的高通量测序方法。分析了一系列阴性对照以及严格的电子去污方法。
在所有检测到的细菌读数中，50%至70%来自睾丸精子样本中的污染。经过严格去污后，布劳特氏菌属（P = 0.04）、纤维杆菌属（P = 0.02）、梭菌属XIVa（P = 0.01）、梭菌属XIVb（P = 0.04）、梭菌属XVIII（P = 0.02）、柯林斯菌属（P = 0.005）、普雷沃氏菌属（P = 0.04）、普罗利克菌属（P = 0.02）、罗滨逊菌属（P = 0.04）和万多尼亚菌属（P = 0.04）在未成熟精子中显示出具有统计学意义的丰度。
我们的结果表明，人类睾丸中存在潜在的细菌特征，尽管生物量较低，并且可能对精液微生物群的组成有贡献。此外，应用严格的去污方法对于分析低生物量部位的微生物群至关重要。
